Revised Proposal

In an attempt to demonstrate how student writers bring their own unique cultural backgrounds to texts, I designed an introductory composition and rhetoric course that asks students to both examine and interrogate hip-hop music’s influence on American culture. During the course of the semester our class focused its attention on various cultural literacies tied to hip-hop music, movies, and fashion. In doing so, we were forced to ask ourselves several important questions. What types of arguments do hip-hop artists make? How are these arguments constructed? What are the cultural implications of these arguments? How do factors such as race, gender, class, and socioeconomic status complicate our understanding of these arguments? My student population, mostly comprised of white –upper middle class – suburban – college freshmen, was also forced to consider how their own unique cultural backgrounds had influenced their willingness to subscribe to certain argumentative positions and rhetorical techniques. Building from the work of composition scholars such as Bruce McComsky and Geoffery Sirc, my presentation will discuss how bringing cultural literacies into the composition classroom can help students become better reflective and reflexive writers. Using examples from online discussions, essays, and debates, I will demonstrate how these emerging technologies offer students new ways of understanding rhetorical concepts such as audience, rhetorical intent, text, and textuality. My presentation will also compare and contrast my struggles as white Appalachian male from a working-class background from those of my students as they attempted to more beyond their cultural orientations toward a literacy they often viewed as foreign. My goal will to demonstrate how encouraging students to move beyond their familiar discourse communities can be useful to the field of literacy studies.