College English - Volume 69, Issue 1, 2006

Against the backdrop of the passionate and conflicting assessments of Jacques Derrida that followed his 2004 death, this article reviews rhetoric and composition’s scholarly appropriation of deconstruction during the 1980s and early 1990s. Contending that the field primarily used deconstruction in the service of refutation, this article positions deconstruction as a style of inheritance that could allow for a more productive encounter with theory.

Drawing on students’ literacy autobiographies, this article critiques the premise that academic discourse and working-class identity are not only static but also in complete opposition. The author argues for a more performative theory of class, a theory that would, she explains, recognize that academic discourse creates social class distinctions through processes that can be critiqued and reshaped.

The author examines how chronotopes—a term M. M. Bakhtin used to describe space-time relationships in literature—also characterize rhetorical arguments. She uses a case study of a series of debates about genetically modified foods (GMFs) in Canada to illustrate how chronotopes shape arguments along ideological lines. In particular, she suggests that dominant chronotopes, such as space-time compression or substantial equivalence, are linked with powerful ideologies, such as neoliberal capitalism or scientific positivism, in ways that limit alternative arguments based on sustainability or green politics.

Reviewed are A Resource Guide to Asian American Literature, edited by Sau-ling Cynthia Wong and Stephen H. Sumida, Words Matter: Conversations with Asian American Writers, edited by King-Kok Cheung, and Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images, edited by M. Evelina Galang.