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Starting Somewhere Better: Revisiting Multiculturalism in First-Year Composition

Starting Somewhere Better: Revisiting Multiculturalism in First-Year Composition Starting Somewhere Better: Revisiting Multiculturalism in First-Year Composition E. Shelley Reid It has become something of a commonplace to assert that composition, per- haps more than any other aspect of English studies, has its scholarly endeav- ors firmly rooted in pedagogy. Because of those roots, we expect that compo- sitionists will write about pedagogy; we also expect — almost without saying so — that no composition pedagogy will gain general acceptance without ini- tial and continuing scrutiny by the field’s best scholars. Yet most composition teachers can reach up to their office shelves and find at least one popular, mass-market textbook, designed explicitly for a first-year writing course, that also explicitly professes the teaching of an American multiculturalism as a central pedagogical goal. As a multicultural literature specialist in my earlier scholarly life, I would like to cheer “hurrah!” and count this a victory. As a compositionist, program administrator, and teacher-educator, however, I find myself wondering whether these textbooks and curricula are getting the nec- essary scholarly scrutiny. When did we agree that — beyond making our text- books represent diverse views to better reflect our diverse students — we should also teach multiculturalism as a disciplinary focus in http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Pedagogy Duke University Press

Starting Somewhere Better: Revisiting Multiculturalism in First-Year Composition

Reid, E. Shelley
Pedagogy , Volume 4 (1) – Jan 1, 2004
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Copyright
© 2004 Duke University Press
ISSN
1531-4200
eISSN
1533-6255
DOI
10.1215/15314200-4-1-65
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Starting Somewhere Better: Revisiting Multiculturalism in First-Year Composition E. Shelley Reid It has become something of a commonplace to assert that composition, per- haps more than any other aspect of English studies, has its scholarly endeav- ors firmly rooted in pedagogy. Because of those roots, we expect that compo- sitionists will write about pedagogy; we also expect — almost without saying so — that no composition pedagogy will gain general acceptance without ini- tial and continuing scrutiny by the field’s best scholars. Yet most composition teachers can reach up to their office shelves and find at least one popular, mass-market textbook, designed explicitly for a first-year writing course, that also explicitly professes the teaching of an American multiculturalism as a central pedagogical goal. As a multicultural literature specialist in my earlier scholarly life, I would like to cheer “hurrah!” and count this a victory. As a compositionist, program administrator, and teacher-educator, however, I find myself wondering whether these textbooks and curricula are getting the nec- essary scholarly scrutiny. When did we agree that — beyond making our text- books represent diverse views to better reflect our diverse students — we should also teach multiculturalism as a disciplinary focus in

Journal

Pedagogy – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2004

References