Introduction

[Vershawn Ashanti Young]

Hello, Susan, and to All

I am Vershawn Ashanti Young.  I am a PhD student in Literature at University
of Illinois at Chicago.  I was a Comp and Rhet major until a week ago.  The
reason for my change is relevant to what is discribed as being one of the
purpose of this list.  I am interested in looking at the African American
community (especially the social and politics areas) and it is changed by and
continually constructed by literature.  In particular I am interested in how
social and political changes are manifested in the rhetoric of the people as
well as the writers.

  I too, like Susan, have been greatly influenced by the work of Kenneth
Burke.  I believe that you can't separate the person from the rhetoric, that
we are always our public self and private self.  And I believe those selves
operate when writer's write (literature) as well as when rhetors perform
(writing acts or speech acts).

So, I too am delighted to participate in this forum, as it is an
interdisciplinary forum.  So lets discourse.

Vershawn


In a message dated 1/7/99 7:49:52 PM Central Standard Time,
musea2 at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu writes:

<< Greetings all.

 I am currently enthralled with completing an MA in Composition at Western
 Illinois University and plan to enroll in a PhD program next fall in order
 to continue my joyous explorations in written discourse (I'm not certain
 exactly *where* I'll be continuing my studies, however.)  Yes, by way of a
 more personal introduction, I tend to make little attempt to hide my
 enthusiasm. I work hard, and so I express myself fairly freely as well- in
 fact, I find the diverse faces we can wear in various types of discourse
 to be an interesting subject in itself. My thesis work involves examining
 the electronic discourse of freshman writing students.

 Recently, I was inspired to write about the way the field of English
 celebrates its relevance to contemporary culture.  In my journal I
 wrote the following:

 	It is impossible to underscore too lightly the profound influence
 	of words; were they not of vast significance, all together
 	powerful as a primary force in both the preservation and
 	generation of the societies (realities) we live in and move
 	through, the twin fields of literature and composition would not
 	exist.  Though perhaps "words" as a field of study are not always
 	understood or deemed practical, they have have contributed vastly
 	to the fabric of daily life. . . . Words form an intricate and
 	intimate aspect of both [the study of words and society itself.]
 	If we do not understand our words, we inevitably will fail to
 	understand ourselves and the world as we encounter it through the
 	language(s) of our society(ies).

 My understanding of language and its relationship to society has been
 heavily influenced by Kenneth Burke's concept of "terministic screens" as
 well as the other implications of language he mentions in _Language as
 Symbolic Action_.

 Even though "discourse" can easily be conceived of as primarily verbal, I
 also believe that pictorial and gestural elements are key components
 in a definition of discourse- along with any social customs, psychological
 perceptions, spiritual understandings, or other culturally shared
 referents, perspectives, associations, or knowledge.  As a result, I am
 very pleased with the creation of this list because I feel that any
 in-depth study of Discourse is well suited to an interdisciplinary
 approach.


 I look forward to all of you being a part of my first steps into this
 intriguing and significant area of study.


 Susan Antlitz
 M.A. Candidate, Writing
 Western Illinois University
  >>