Dr. Corrine Hinton and TAMUT Graduate Students Present at ARWS Conference
Assistant Professor of English, Dr. Corrine Hinton and two graduate students in English, Christian Pippins and Esther Pippins, recently presented at the Association of Rhetoric and Writing Studies (ARWS) conference, held in Austin, Texas October 11 and 12, 2018. The three comprised a panel entitled, Engaging Troubling Times: Explorations in Rhetorical Citizenship during which they discussed programmatic, curricular, and research-driven projects focused on notions of rhetorical citizenship.
Rhetorical Citizenship, based on the work of Christian Kock and Lisa S. Villadsen (2017), offers a theoretical framework and civic practice that seeks to understand the way in which citizenship is enacted through language and communicative practices, by those who participate both actively (as producers) and passively (as critical consumers).
Dr. Hinton discussed recent changes in writing studies over the last five years on the A&M-Texarkana campus during her presentation, “Making What We Can Do Work for All of Us: Creating a Place for Rhetoric and Writing Studies.”
Christian Pippins, who also works as a full-time circulation assistant at the Longview Public Library, presented early findings for her upcoming thesis project called “Covert Civic Engagement: Black Women in the Civil Rights Movement Archives.” Searching the archives for black women’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement, Christian shared artifacts documenting the life of prominent Mississippian and member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Victoria Gray Adams and discussed her own journey as a novice archivist.
Esther Pippins looked at a contemporary example of civic participation by examining the rhetoric of young activists and survivors of the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. In her presentation, “Finding Justice in a World of Fake News: How Parkland Student-Activists Advocate in the Current Media Environment,” Esther traced the messages of Parkland survivors and showcased examples of the obstacles they’ve faced when confronted by misleading and false information about their messaging (such as the Tweet showing a doctored image of Emma Gonzalez ripping up the Constitution).
More about the Association of Rhetoric and Writing Studies can be found here https://www.rhetoricandwriting.org/.
