Erin's Response

[Anonymous]

#397

(Sorry for the lateness!)
“In “Multimodal Methods for Multimodal Literacies: Establishing A Technofeminist Research Identity,” Jen Almjeld and Kristine Blair describe what happens when-in the processes of Almjeld’s dissertation ‘s being written- feminist theories, very much concerned with embodiment, overlap with a committee’s disembodying approaches to new media and theorizing. In its reports on the potentials for mediation within the dissertation process, the chapter raises questions about the limits of control over mediation not only for feminist scholars and for scholars researching online technologies but also for those of us who direct dissertations.” (p. 10)
While this is more of an advertisement for a later chapter than it is an insight from the authors of the intro, this stood out to me as it reminded me of some advice I’ve heard several times throughout my time in grad school: “Write your dissertation, and then never, ever write it again.” …Or something along those lines – advice pointing to the fact that the dissertation is a genre that should not serve as a template for future writing. While I suppose I understand it, it’s always puzzled me. Why would I want to spend a significant amount of time dedicated to creating something that I know isn’t my best work? Something to be put on a shelf and never looked at again (until you revise it DRASTICALLY, of course) out of shame? embarrassment? disgust? all of the above? Would expanding our conceptions of DISSERTATION as a genre rid us of this? I think it would help, anyway.
 
I think about this not only as I finish my coursework and begin trying to develop a clearer sense of what my research interests actually are, but also in the context of my students’ work. In my work, I’m concerned about writing/creating something that falls into “the disembodied category,” per say. But my students, who have been conditioned by high school in the most restrictive ways regarding their writing, don’t even know that their work could be embodied, could be something other than the confined compositions they’re used to. It makes me more committed to giving my students options, to encouraging them to look beyond the parameters of their writing assignments to see what they might really create, and to encourage them to view composing as something that offers more outlets for expression than they had previously considered.

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