Recent comp/rhet theorists, working against (somewhat) the expressivist approach of the 1970s, have sought to deconstruct the privileging of the "I" in the traditional essay. Thus, I see some similar goals in LaTour's de-centering. I do see how the LaTour reading fits 8040 nicely: we have been examining the social turn, so why not look at a text that questions the very notions of "social."
I did wonder if we find some sort of practical use in LaTour's book. How might LaTour's restructuring of the social help us as composition instructors? Does LaTour's work have any benefit for the first-year comp classroom? I'm tempted to leave that question hanging in the air, but I guess that I should take a stab at answering it.
In terms of what comp teachers can come away with, I think there's value in being challenged to rethink one's seemingly "natural" foundations. LaTour, by causing us to question what is the social, also causes us to question other issues, such as making the student the center of the essay. Progressive instructors, for instance, have designed assignments where students do not write from their point of view; in fact, they are encouraged to write from the point of view of someone entirely different from themselves. Collaborative assignments--not just busy work in small groups--can also helps students see value in writing that doesn't privilege the "I." In technical writing, for instance, this is common.
Regarding the first-year comp classroom, I wonder if there's a way to design an assignment inspired by LaTour's ideas. No mention of LaTour would ever occur in the class, of course, but perhaps there's a way to present a case study or example where students clearly see that what they assumed was the social is in fact much more complex. They then could be encouraged to make their own connections out in the world. This, in some ways, is a twist on Berlin's assignments in Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures. But instead of examining texts (readings, films, television) as a way to comment on, for instance, class issues, the examination of texts would force students to reconsider their ideas about sociality. Or do you think this is all over the typical freshman head?
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I think it's definitely worth exploring, David--and it's something I've been considering (though you've articualted it much better than I had) in the work I'm doing in 8010. I think it was you, too, who had discussed at one point during the semester how you've brought in the concept of binaries into your 1000 classes, but simplified the concept so that it's more digestable. I've been trying to do something similar with all the concepts that I'd like to introduce to my freshmen comp students--concepts that I think will help them across the disciplines, not just in comp or English.
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