Reconstituting the Language of Kristeva's Abjection for the Writing Classroom

Last_barnard_moodle_post.doc

Today’s post will be more in line with my final project. It has occurred to me that I could have done this the whole semester, but epiphanies do not always happen when they are supposed to. I am interested in the ways in which theory can interweave with the composition classroom by informing teaching philosophy, classroom dynamics, as well as assignments. For today, I will do a close interpretation of Julia Kristeva through the lens of composition theory. My intention of my analysis is to align the language of her theory to the language of composition. Perhaps inspired by Susan Jarratt’s discussion of the rhetoric of political protests and the importance of spurring a discussion of controversial topics, I too wish to start a discussion, but about how theory can inform composition studies.

Julia Kristeva’s biggest contribution to theory and philosophy is her reinterpretation of Freud and Lacan. Freud argues that the baby must detach itself from it’s mother to avoid castration, while Kristeva argues the baby does this to abject the mother and reassert his/her own boundaries of identity. In other words, this is me, and my mother is over there. Through abjecting “the infant finds the maternal body disgusting, if still fascinating, and is able to leave it behind and enter the social.” (Oliver 154) Each individual feels the need to red themselves of the unnecessary or the “filthy” in order to feel a new and ready to find a personal identity: “on the basis of the simple logic of excluding filth, which, promoted to the ritual level of defilement, founded the “self and clean” of each group if not of each subject. (Kristeva 168). In the composition classroom, the instructor becomes a form of maternal figure by leading discussion and guiding the students through their academic writing journey. A re-constitution of the term abjection can be interpreted in the following way: If the teacher is a maternal figure for the students, then she/he should help the students learn to realize they must face society on their own once they enter the “real” world. Fisher and Fray’s idea of the gradual release of responsibility is a useful idea in this context. That is to say the I do, We do, You do model. Here is the link. This idea is a non intrusive and implicit way of helping the students separate from their instructor, the maternal figure, and be prepared to write for other audiences. A person does not only abject the mother, however, they will continuously abject aspects of themselves which they find grotesque and unnecessary to their personal development.

Julia Kristeva also contends that people must also abject society from themselves. They reassert their boundaries of identity from animals to name an example. “thus renouncing the possession of all women in their turn, they establish at one stroke the sacred, exogamy, and society.” For the composition classroom, this can mean overcoming the lack of entrance into societal discussion by writing papers and refuting other people’s ideas with one’s contentions. The simpler transcription of this idea that I prefer, is that students must abide by the writing process to leave behind, “the filthy,” in this case, the original messy versions of papers. I am not sure who invented the writing process (perhaps it was Murray?), but I learned about it from Lad Tobin in his article entitled “Process Pedagogy.” This is a process where students pre-write, write, and revise in a recursive process to create more authentic papers. Tobin quotes Murray “Instead of teaching finished writing, we should teach unfinished writing, and glory in it’s unfinishedness…” (2) Thus the language of composition can be aligned with that of Kristeva’s psychoanalytic analysis by reconstituting the term abjection to mean, learning to leave behind the teacher as well as original drafts by revisiting them. These are only a couple of ways of reconstituting the terms of course as there are many ways of reinterpreting the term as well as these theoretical perspectives we have been reading all semester.

The previous was only a snapshot at what I am working on. I decided to focus on a select idea to explicate it in a detailed manner that is not overwhelming to the reader as well as to myself. I will probably use this in my final project. Perhaps my final project will end up being more theory, and I think that’s fine. But after I finish reconstituting the language I wish to use in composition, I wish to make these ideas concrete and give useful activities and strategies for the composition classroom. I think this is a wonderful way to engage in a dialectic between these two fields. I can jump back and forth between my discussion of theory to that of composition. Thank you for reading, it has been fun engaging with conversation with all of you through this medium the whole semester. Happy final project composing!



Works Cited and Consulted


Kristeva, Julia. "From one Identity to An Other." French Feminism Reader. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. 158-165. Print.

---, ---. "From Filth to Defilement." French Feminism Reader. Lanham, MD:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. 166-176. Print.

Levey, Ellen. Gradual Release of Responsibility. Jan. 2007. PDF.

Oliver, Kelly. "Maternity, Feminism, and Language." French Feminism Reader. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. 153-157. Print.

Tate, Gary, Amy Rupiper, and Kurt Schick. "Process Pedagogy." A Guide to Composition Pedagogies. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. 1-17. Print.

Sexual Discourse

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Alexander, Jonathan. Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy. Logan: Utah UP, 2008. Print.

Amnesty Recruitment Mailer. Digital image. CopyWritten. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

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Dangerous Intersection. Dangerous Intersection, 2 Sept. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

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Blog, 8 Sept. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

James, Leon. Theistic Psychology THE SCIENCE OF IMMORTALITY. Digital image. University

of Hawaii. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

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2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

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2011. .

OCCAM's Razor. Why Men Don't Like to Shop With Women. Digital image. Motifake. Motifake,

10 Nov. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

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Dec. 2009. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

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Margarita Bar. WordPress, 29 Aug. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

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Silencing the Feminine Energies-Walt Pourier

I'm back!

I might just come back to this blog. I miss having my thoughts
plastered on the internet. This way, I will come to understand where
I atand in the spectrum of academia.

Restaurant City and Arabian Nights

I bumped into this on Facebook in one of the many games offered on the site. It is called Restaurant City and allows you to own a restaurant, furnish it, and sell different meals. Every week they have a theme and a couple of weeks ago, they decided to use Arabian Nights as their theme. Here are some of the interesting things I discovered:

* There are places, people, food, plants that look exotic to the viewer with the intricate designs, veiled faces, and sumptuous looking food.
* The oriental is objectified through allowing the person playing the game to purchase and create an Arabian Nights themed restaurant.
* There is a distinct gap in class displayed throughout the game. (It is either rich with piles of gold and a Sultan’s roof or a plain merchant with a turban selling rare objects)
*The temperature of the orient is highlighted through the orange and yellow colors and also through the sand that reflects the sun.

More images available at the following sites:

http://friskymongoose.com/experience-the-arabian-nights-with-new-restaurant-city-items-and-food/

http://blog.restaurantcitygame.com/2010/09/01/arabian-nights/

Michael Lundell Blog
http://journalofthenights.blogspot.com/2010/09/restaurant-city.html

The Fiction Question

I have never really thought about fiction. Fiction is something I am used to reading and analyzing. I have a hard time analyzing short fiction. I have no idea why this is, because I have no problem dissecting novels. It is a strange thing. I can formulate ideas, but I have a hard time putting them together in the correct format.

Writing about fiction, I think is more complicated than writing actual fiction. For me at least, it is easier to create a cohesive story than to take apart ideas and attempt to create meaning this way.

If there is one thing I will have trouble teaching, its short fiction. I feel like I can never get my arguements straight. When I feel I have an arguement written persuassively, there is something missing. I know that I can get it right once someone points out what is wrong with my arguements though. I know how to fix them once someone points out my flaws.

When it comes to writing fiction, I haver never felt comfortable either. I have heard a lot of people say that it is easier because it is a form of creative writing and, but I have had a hard time coming up with developmental detail in writing fiction.

I think I have evolved though in this respect and have become better at coming up with these stories and fully developing ideas.

I think that when I teach fiction, I will help students grasp the concept of writing fiction versus writing about fiction. I would not want them to have to go through the same thing I am going through.

A poem Inspired by Oleg's writing style

Don’t tell me to write!


Plastered on the screen,
white …clean.
You would think I would feel so sererene

Why is it I feel I could scream?

People can tell me to write,
but I cant requite
My voice is blocked solid with a blue brick
wall partite
It looks like a fight between me and my bryte
Invite handwrite gunfight delight

I try to push with all my might
I kick, shove , lean ---miswrite
Pieces of concrete I cannot destroy
Words I can mend
Songs that devolve from pure joy
I jostle and heave with the force of my might
But all I achieve is a fleight
Recite and rewrite out of spite
---a kite sweet sight feels like

Words floating in an airborne pathogen platter
Drama that sckrews
anger that barter’s the adder
With a printer that threatens to ink the sheet.

Don’t tell me to write, the snake bites snow white in the moonlight
Get out of my sight.