Addressing the Situation: An Analysis of the CCCC Chairs' Addresses of the Last 11 Years (1998-2008)

• Other Authors: Lee, Rory Amundson (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: English literature
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-3160

This project extends Ellen Barton's 1997 historical study of the first twenty CCCC Chairs' Addresses where she examines what she calls "a tradition of […] 'evocative gestures'—the articulation of broad concerns in the field" (235). In her analysis, Barton demonstrates two themes: (1) accordant gestures about the complexity of teaching composition and the service this teaching provides to students and the community and (2) conflicting gestures about how best to represent the field through research and where the field should be housed within the academy. Since her study, there have been eleven new Addresses and thus an exigence for additional research. This project responds to that exigence by analyzing the past eleven CCCC Chairs' Addresses, starting with Cynthia Selfe's in 1998 and concluding with Cheryl Glenn's in 2008. The results from this research show the emergence of three new themes in gestures different from the two Barton identifies: recurring gestures about (1) literacy, (2) our stake in writing, and (3) diversity. This project makes two significant contributions to our understanding of our own history: (1) using a coherent set of texts, it maps the important topics in our field over the last eleven years, and (2) using Barton's themes as an historical context, it illustrates how the focus in our field has changed since the inception of the CCCC Chair's Address in 1977. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. === Summer Semester, 2009. === June 17, 2009. === Chairs' Addresses, Conference on College Composition and Communicat, Rhetoric and Composition, Diversity, Stake in Writing, Gestures, Literacy, Discourse Analysis === Includes bibliographical references. === Kathleen Yancey, Professor Directing Thesis; Kristie Fleckenstein, Committee Member; Michael Neal, Committee Member.