open swim

[Shannon Carter]

Thanks for the "open swim." The silence had me concerned as well.

I'd like to take a dip in the first question again (interdisciplinary status
or a specific language and gender methodology).

I just came out of the first portion of a rhetoric symposium. In it, Susan
Stanford Friedman (discussing research opportunities in feminist rhetorics)
and Kermit E. Cambell, (discussing research opportunities in multicultural
rhetorics)pretty much agreed that we need a "home base," whether that be
literature, African American vunacular, or language studies.  Friedman
argues that a feminist must travel from this home base into the areas of
anthropology, psychology, cognitive science, and so on, in order to revise,
re-envision, or reimagine the aspects of his/her homebase itself upon
his/her return home.

Cynthia L. Self (this afternoon as well, speaking on research opportunities
in rhetoric and technology)[echoing someone, I'll get the name from my
notes] says that once things become "common knowledge" it becomes imperitive
to begin interrogating the belief systems behind this common knowledge. I'm
not sure if this same thing happens in our academic communities as readily
as it does in our popular culture, but it does seem to imply that we need to
periodically leave our home base in order to gain a new perspective.

So I haven't answered the question, have I? I'm just swimming around in
here. I think I am saying that we need to have a double agenda: one that is
interdisciplinary in that we have people from a variety of fields speaking
from their various, very "home-based" academic areas dialogizing with others
from very different "home-based" academic areas. To me, this is the perfect
place in which to bring together our various, (hopefully) very different
expertise in order to look at the concept of language as it shapes gender
and/or vice versa.

That was refreshing on this hot, Texas day. Thanks.


Shannon Carter
Texas Woman's University
(940)898-2338
s-carter at excite.com




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