In the early fall of 1975, Susan Alexander Speeth was stabbed to death when walking home alone at night. Her body was found less than a block from her home. In the aftermath of Speeth’s death, feminists cried the slogan “Take Back the Night.” The call remains a rallying call to mourn the loss of what many women has never had: freedom in public spaces. While it’s misguided to assume that most violence against woman looks like the Speeth case, …
Mapping Patriarchy
At the center of feminist politics we often find physical spaces. Consider abortion clinics, prisons, restrooms, universities, and homes: each space a site for a struggle for safety and autonomy, each space an example of how patriarchy uses space to project an illusion of stability. An ideology that casts women inferior depends on the production of spaces where women are subject to violence. If patriarchy is only workable only insofar that gender hierarchies seem natural and, therefore justified, destabilizing spaces is a crucial step …
Using Twitter as a Writing + Research Tool
As I mentioned in my last post, Twitter provides students and teachers alike the ability to locate voices that would otherwise go unheard. As promised, this lesson plan helps use Twitter to (1) help students develop a writing practice, (2) refine their arguments, and (3) use hashtags to research a topic. Here’s that lesson plan:
Bringing Black Feminist Twitter in the Classroom
In most intro to Rhetoric courses, students evaluate the credibility of sources wherein they’re discouraged from incorporating unreliable sources into their own work. Intentional or not, this lesson tends to limit students to major media outlets (e.g., New York Times and Wall Street Journal.) What might we risk in through this practice?
Activist Twitter and Race: Mid-Semester Update
As we approach the mid-semester mark, the Activist Twitter and Race research group is giving you a little behind-the-scenes view of what each group member has been working on. We think about, use, and relate to Twitter in a number of ways: as a pedagogical tool (Rhiannon, JB), as an aggregation and curation instrument (Pete) and as a data source (Axel).
Inspecting Lesson Plan Templates
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m currently working on lesson plans for our instructors. Starting out, I knew I wanted ways for instructors to simplify using digital resources into a writing classroom. However, I didn’t realize how from scratch I’d have to start.
Cultural + Digital Literacies
Over the course of this semester, I’m working with DWRL instructors to develop a series of lesson plans to help students explore the intersection of race and activism on Twitter. As these lesson plans take shape, I began to think of ways learning about Twitter could help our students develop their communication skills. In other words, I’ve been thinking of the ways in which cultural literacy overlaps with digital literacy.
Activist Twitter and Race: Upcoming Projects
This semester, the Activist Twitter and Race Research Group will produce a wide range of content to expand the lab’s resources for understanding communication, resistance, and identity in the digital age.