Writing Permitted in Designated Areas Only (Pedagogy and Cultural Practice)
In 1990, Brodkey designed the controversial "Writing About Difference" syllabus for University of Texas composition students. The program was foiled by administrators who saw it as enforcing political correctness. This collection of Brodkey's writings includes a fairly effective defense of the program, including the syllabus and assignments, which aimed to make students closely analyze court decisions and other writings about discrimination. Brodkey is clearly on the left, her pedagogical mission ideological but defensible: to teach students that literacy (and education) has an inherent political component. She makes some worthy points; for example, she suggests that the introduction of multicultural essays requires pedagogical reform, recognizing how Anglo students or students of color will react differently. Unfortunately, Brodkey's essays, most written for academic journals, are thickets of poststructuralist jargon, accessible primarily to fellow initiates. She now teaches at UC-San Diego.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.