Nancy Albertson presents a brief introduction to Stanford Professor Dr. Andrea A. Lunsford’s long, dynamic career by explaining Lunsford’s theoretical approach to “Memory (the 4th canon), collaboration, women and writing, audience, intellectual property, and writing and technology.” In order to illustrate for the audience Lunsford’s argument in Why Words … Together – written in 1983 with her some-time writing partner Lisa Ede – that “all writing is collaborative” in one way or another, Albertson began her presentation with an exercise; her audience was asked to “collaborate” with one another while defining words that in turn defined Lunsford’s research.
Albertson then gave a brief survey of Lunsford’s research into the “female voices” she believes to be of equal importance to the male in developing the history of writing and rhetoric. Lunsford, according to the presenter, also believes that rhetoric’s fourth canon, memoria, has not been accorded the importance it deserves in twentieth century rhetorical theory.
The human rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s was fundamental to Lunsford’s work, according to Albertson, who cited Ms. Magazine founder Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique, and the racial struggles of author and Professor of Rhetoric and Composition, Victor Villanueva as mitigating influences on her own writing on the subjects of feminism and discrimination.
Albertson tells us that Lunsford’s ideologies encompass vast areas of interests, including “a broader definition of ‘literature,’” “shared dissertations,” and extended training and responsibilities for, and collaborations with, Teaching Assistants. Lunsford has also written critically on the subjects of intellectual Property and textual ownership as well as on the “technologies of writing.”
The main thrust of Albertson’s presentation surrounded collaboration and its importance to Lunsford’s own writing, but a glance at an annotated bibliography in Compbiblio: Leaders and Influences in Composition Theory and Practice (Allison D. Smith et al, 2007) reveals a well-rounded vision for the future of composition and rhetorical theory, but also for the role of the teacher (201-04).
There is, of course, only so much that can be said in forty minutes regarding a career spanning decades, so it is fair to say that Albertson has given us a point from which to launch our understanding of the work of Andrea Lunsford.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In being fair, I believe that you were more than, in summarizing the Lunsford presentation.
ReplyDeletenancy
This was, actually, a perfect summary of the presentation. Some of the points that I had forgotten were laid out and explained succinctly.
ReplyDeleteI agree that, to quote you, Lunsford was a "well-rounded" individual. She was interested in keeping her students aware of the fact that it wasn't just men who were involved in making history and--in fact--it wasn't even just men who wrote about it. But Lunsford does not just focus on feminism, she focuses on many forgotten academic tools, such as collaboration and memoria. I was very impressed with Lunsford, as you seem to be.
Again, well done!
I think she is a fmeisnist on many ways. She wants to honor and encourage and recognize the worth of women's writing when perhaps hasn't been. Women are continuing to find their voices and enter academica where it was some decades back. Like many professions, there have always been women, but after the puch with the femmenist movement more women felt they could follow thier interests and join any profession they choose and be respected as an equal.
ReplyDeleteowever, what I like about Lunsford, perhpas as you said she doesn't just focus on femenism and she has collaborated with women and men in her writing.