Towards consequence and collaboration in composition studies: theorizing collaboration after the social turn
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- William E. Duffy (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Hephzibah Roskelly
Abstract: This dissertation argues that theories of collaboration in rhetoric and composition studies have for too long relied on social constructionist epistemology to explain what collaboration is and how it works, resulting in a widespread, if not tacit reluctance on the part of instructors to encourage collaboration in the teaching of writing that goes beyond various forms of group work and peer-review. In an attempt to recover and renew the values of collaboration, I suggest that it can be re-conceptualized ethically as a discursive relationship collaborators foster with one another to invent discourse that transgresses and transforms the limits of what individuals are able to articulate alone. Moreover I use the rhetorical canon of invention to explain why social constructionist epistemology is incapable of theorizing collaboration other than as a "style" of doing work. I draw upon the tradition of classical American pragmatism, along with the more contemporary work of language philosopher Donald Davidson and other externalist theorists to theorize the techné of collaboration, which I argue manifests in the habits of dialogue collaborators foster to engage its inventive work. Finally, I explain how such a re-conceptualization of collaboration informs the pedagogical possibilities of post-process composition theory, which has waned in recent years for its lack of pedagogical articulation.
Towards consequence and collaboration in composition studies: theorizing collaboration after the social turn
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Created on 5/1/2011
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2011
- Keywords
- Collaboration, Composition, Externalism, Invention, Pragmatism, Techne
- Subjects
- Group work in education
- Pragmatism
- English language $x Rhetoric $x Study and teaching
- Report writing $x Study and teaching (Higher)
- Techne (Philosophy)