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f Composition Is the Ethical Negotiation of Fantastical Selves
- Source: College Composition & Communication, Volume 70, Issue 2, Dec 2018, p. 169 - 194
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- 01 Dec 2018
Abstract
This article addresses an impasse between rhetoric and composition practice and theory. On one hand, from the poststructural through the posthuman, our most vigorous theories challenge classical notions of selfhood and agency. On the other hand, from institutional assessment through writing about writing, composition’s most vigorous practices entail fairly traditional ideas about selfhood and agency. This piece crosses over the impasse by suggesting that “self” and “agency” are vital fantasies for composition, and that negotiating these fantasies is an ethical process. At its heart, I argue, composition is any ethical, collective working out of these fantastical concepts that helps adaptive individuals more freely emerge.
© 2018 by the National Council of Teachers of English