Feminist Rhetorical Practices Parts III and IV

I had the unique privilege of taking “Sensation and Perception” (a psychology course requirement) with a blind professor. When reading about the pedagogical implications of Strategic Contemplation, I thought of this professor. She hadn’t been born blind. An illness caused her to lose both eyes while she was starting her first PhD. Prevailing, she went on to earn two PhDs (clinical and cognitive psychology) from two different schools. My professor’s uniquely embodied experience impacted the way she taught, and thus, the way we learned to “recognize the senses as sources of information in rhetorical performance and the analysis of performance” (Royster and Kirsch 94). This class taught that it is impossible to separate self from the topic.

I don’t understand why little has been written on the reflections about how we read and are read by others. Perhaps because of that psychology background, these questions seem so fundamental. I’m shocked but also delighted by this gap because I anticipate reading (and maybe even participating in) the research that emerges to fill it. The historic research that places historic figures in “symbiotic partnership” with current figures and thoughts is something I’ve considered but lacked a description to go with my thoughts (Royster and Kirsch 94). The sensations and perceptions of other voices, critically imagined, enhance understanding (or standing under, a term I’ve never heard but am intrigued by). From this reading, and the discussion last class, I now see more clearly how impactful question design is to the research questions. Learning to ask the questions to properly interrogate my inquiries will be an important next step in my research process.

This in progress research process could be applied to a possible idea inspired by the section about Social Circulation (Royster and Kirsch 108). Many of my friends go to Georgia Tech, and I almost suffer from whiplash as I go between conversations at GSU and those around Tech. The worlds, especially concerning words, are vastly different. So the research about the reading variations of those who like to read versus those who do not seem so important. How does it relate to self-fulfilling prophecy? What impact does speed of reading have on enjoyment of reading? And, of course, how can I answer these questions attuned to my blind spots? Because I find the quote “once we set literacy in motion as a liberating force, there is no telling, and more likely, no controlling where the impact and consequences of such educational moments, as transformative moments, might lead,” inspirational, I’m excited to ask these questions and continuing on the work from the foundation so eloquently expressed in the conclusion (Royster and Kirsch 109).

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