Introduction

[Seth L. Kahn-Egan]

Hello.  I just joined the list, and being the obedient grad student that I
am, I'm posting an introductory note...

My name is Seth Kahn-Egan, and I'm a PhD student (1st year) in Composition
and Cultural Rhetoric at Syracuse U.  I have my MA in comp/rhet from
Florida State.  My research interests are extremely broad (some might say
to a fault, but I like to think of it as hyperactive curiosity); a
smattering of interests includes:  ethnographic research (especially the
connection between its various discursive formations and its claims to
knowledge), punk music and subcultures, the nexus of composition studies
and cultural studies, connections between mass media theory and rhetorical
theory...  that's probably enough.

I just finished my first course in Discourse Analysis, in which I
developed particular interests in Erving Goffman and David Russell's
Activity Theory.  I did a research project in which I asked Syracuse
Police Department detectives to comment on a brief clip from the TV
program "Law and Order"; my goal was to have them discuss the realism of
the program from a professional perspective.  I tape-recorded the
conversation and analyzed their comments using Russell's activity system
model.

In another life, I would have taken undergraduate majors in anthropology
and sociology, along with the philosophy minor I did take.  Then I'd be
able to keep up with the interdisciplinary Joneses (so to speak) that
constitute composition studies.  I'm hoping the discussions on this list
will help me see what everybody else is doing under the rubric of the term
"discourse studies."

Seth Kahn-Egan, Syracuse U.

Seth Kahn-Egan
Syracuse University
PhD Student in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric
slkahneg at mailbox.syr.edu
315-423-8042 (home)
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