subject: Value is A Slippery Term That Permeates Our Work in English Studies [print this page] In response to Hillel's third rhetorical question, "If not now, then when" I can say only that this experiment in reading Ayn Rand with my students taught me that, if I teach the course again, I might offer the theory of the dialogic self more explicitlypointing out the analogy between a class dialogue that examines all views and an inner dialogue that weighs self-interest as intertwined with that of others.
The very articulation Shoes Online of the dialogic principle might make a difference in some students' ability to frame the self versus other relation, not as an either-or disjunct, but as an interactive exchange of carefully considered values.
Value is a slippery term that permeates our work in English studies. Within literary studies, value has a long history of being associated with canon formation and curriculum reform. One way to mark changes Discount Shoes in literary studies is to examine the revaluing of formally subjugated writers and their inclusion in the daily practices of the academy, such as the classroom, the scholarly journal, and the academic conference. The focus on subjugated or marginalized voices is not unique to literature, however.
Over the past decade, there has also been a focus in composition studies on connecting its practices to underrepresented populations through such vehicles as service learning or community publishing projects. This work has emphasized including and revaluing formerly excluded or ignored voices. The value of this work is not only in the "discovery" of new voices but also in the actual services offered to these communities.
Portraying these two trends within English studies as simultaneous, however, raises the issue of whether or not these efforts are actually part of a similar project.
Does the "value" of service learning and community publications intersect with the "value" associated with canon and curriculum reform If not, what might it mean to bring this work together and to push it to the next level of articulation How could such work be transformed, to invoke Michel de Certeau, from a local tactical response to a strategic intervention into how English studies operates That is, where can the concept of "value" actually take us.
To explore these questions, I examine one of the early community publishing projects between an institute at Temple University and a local urban neighborhood, which I call Glassville.1 The goal of the project was to publish an oral history of the neighborhood by bringing together a service-learning course, the community's neighborhood association, the first-year writing program, and faculty from multiple departments.
Instead, the project resulted in a community-led protest, in which issues of race, class, and power had to be recognized and negotiated. It is in the working through of such a moment, I argue, that a revised conception of "value," one embedded in the process of community publishing, can draw together the work of English studies and composition studies.
Value is A Slippery Term That Permeates Our Work in English Studies
