The politics of popular culture in the composition classroom: Toward a pedagogy of resistance and transformation

Abstract

This project falls within current cultural studies and composition frameworks which call for a critical pedagogy to help students understand the ways in which cultural texts play a role in their conceptions of race, class, gender, and self. A chronicle of theories of culture is included to show that changing concepts of text, culture, and subject call for the changing boundaries of what composition is, or can be. The pedagogical goal of this dissertation is to utilize the theories of Michel Foucault and materialist feminism to develop strategies for student critique and revision of popular texts in the composition classroom. The proposed heuristics are applied to advertising images for and about women, for despite the ways in which the image of women has advanced in other media, advertising continues to discipline women into roles as objects first, subjects second. Finally, this project addresses the possibilities and limitations of a media studies curriculum within composition by providing specific assignments, contexts, and audiences for student writing. Specific pedagogical strategies and curricula are necessary for ensuring that students maintain a sense of agency through the writing process and for providing forums in which students and teachers privilege dialogue over monologue. Ultimately, this project seeks to empower students through the redefinitions of text, culture, and selfhood, issues to be explored through the examination of popular texts within a social and political framework