This collection compiles eight personal narratives from first-generation US immigrant scholars in rhetoric, composition, and communication that show how they bring personal aspects to their pedagogical and scholarly work. The book identifies what is universal and unique about their approach to teaching and scholarship in these fields; illustrates a general theory of rhetorical awareness in language and communication practices among the scholars; develops terminology that can be used to describe rhetorical practices cross-culturally; and applies understanding from comparative study of contemporary cross-cultural communication. It reveals differences and disruptions in public and academic conversations that resist stereotypes about language and literacy, challenge mandates for fixed identities, and expand definitions of first-generation scholars. Chapters address aspects like labels, language experiences and ideologies, cultural expectations, the significance of names, professional identity, and literacy. Annotation ©2020 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Editors Letizia Guglielmo and Sergio C. Figueiredo and their contributors share the experiences of first-generation immigrant scholars in rhetoric, composition, and communication and how those experiences shape individual academic identity and, in turn, the teaching of writing and rhetoric.
With stories of migrants, refugees, and immigrants constantly in the news, this collection of personal narratives from first-generation immigrant scholars in rhetoric, composition, and communication is a welcome antidote to the polemics about who deserves to live in the United States and why. As literacy scholar Kate Vieira states in the foreword, this book tells better, more fully human, more intellectually rigorous stories. Sharing their experiences and how those experiences shape both individual academic identity and the teaching of writing and rhetoric, Letizia Guglielmo and Sergio C. Figueiredo and their contributors use the personal as a starting point for advancing collective and institutional change through active theories of social justice.In addition to exploring how literacy is always complex, situational, and influenced by multiple and diverse identities, individual essays narrate the ways in which teacher-scholars negotiate multiple identities and liminal spaces while often navigating insider-outsider status as students, teachers, and professionals. As they extend current and ongoing conversations within the field, contributors consider how these experiences shape their individual literacies and understanding of literacy; how their literacy experiences lie at the intersections of gender, race, class, and public policy; and how these experiences often provide the motivation to pursue an academic career in rhetoric, composition, and communication.
