Writing Race in the Rhizome: The Role of Affect and Art in Critical Writing Practice

• In Event: 72.049 - Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: 72.049-8 - Innovative Approaches to Writing and Instruction

Abstract

This paper bridges theories of affect, and critical literacy. Drawing from work with a seventh grade class, the author explores the blending of genres, both expressive and argumentative, to understand the tensions and complexity, as well as the meaning and connections inherent in youth writing about the trauma of racial discrimination in school and community. The author considers the way in which rhizomatic ways of knowing experience by making art together (Alvermann, 2000; Wilson, 2003; Irwin, Beer, Springgay, Bickel 2006) offered the youth and the author an expansive and compassionate way of holding the complexity of representing trauma as a genre blend and the tensions inherent in sharing this important work with others.

Author

• Ellie Haberl, University of Colorado - Boulder