Writing Centers and the New Racism: A Call for Sustainable Dialogue and Change

by Laura Greenfield (Editor), Karen Rowan (Editor)

Noting a lack of sustained and productive dialogue about race in university writing center scholarship, the editors of this volume have created a rich resource for writing center tutors, administrators, and scholars. Motivated by a scholarly interest in race and whiteness studies, and by an ethical commitment to anti-racism work, contributors address a series of related questions: How does institutionalized racism in American education shape the culture of literacy and language education in the writing center? How does racism operate in the discourses of writing center scholarship/lore, and how may writing centers be unwittingly complicit in racist practices? How can they meaningfully operationalize anti-racist work? How do they persevere through the difficulty and messiness of negotiating race and racism in their daily practice? The conscientious, nuanced attention to race in this volume is meant to model what it means to be bold in engagement with these hard questions and to spur the kind of sustained, productive, multi-vocal, and challenging dialogue that, with a few significant exceptions, has been absent from the field.

313 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2011

Reviews

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology is necessary reading for anyone who works in a writing center, although the essays in this anthology have a larger relevancy for those who work with linguistics and teaching of writing. For a white male reader, I found this anthology trying at times- not because I feel that the text alienates me, but because the selections here call attention to dominant strands of New Racism that I had not considered before in my discipline. Especially Villanueva's, Greenfield's, and Young's core critical texts in this book do an excellent job framing the way Standard English encodes problematic racist ideologies into classrooms, assignments, and writing centers.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vital read for anyone with anything to do with writing centers. I love the organization of the volume and the ways that the authors respond and play off of one another. It was also great to be reminded of the energy in the room with V. Villaneuva gave that rousing speech at the 2014 IWCA luncheon. I remember how it was hearing truth spoken to power and the hope we had that change really could come. May it roll down like the waters.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

As others have said, this is a necessary text for those looking to tutor or otherwise work in the Writing Center. While this doesn't include everything (what book can?), this touches upon a lot of the systemic issues to be addressed regarding race and racism in writing centers and offers some ways in which white and other non-Black people can do better in this area. Anti-racist work in the writing center needs to go beyond a lack of overt racism on behalf of tutors and move towards legit anti-racist actions and plans. Moreover, hiring more tutors of color is only the beginning of anti-racist work in the WC and is only a performative measure if not paired with genuine engagement, on all levels of the Writing Center, in undoing the systems that harm people of color in education, particularly in literacy education.

One of the most valuable pieces, for me, is Vershawn Ashanti Young's piece "Should Writers Use They Own English?". Young utilizes 'non-standard' English to elucidate his argument and the use of his word choice was both refreshing in its uniqueness, and insightful on multiple levels.

[Parlei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic--a must-read. From questioning what we think of as 'standard English' to exploring the bias and racial literacy (or lack thereof), this book does not shy away from the difficult and necessary conversations that must be had. While my work does not center solely on writing but on pedagogy on a broader scale, I think this is a necessary read to anyone working in higher education.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An illuminating and necessary collection. I admired the authors' decision to include pieces that contradicted each other, none of which ever contradicted the necessity of confronting and having conversations about the racism implicit (and sometimes explicit) in writing center practice.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Standard English is a myth.
If you work at a Writing Centre, please read this book.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book, dealing with an issue that I was never really aware existed. Because it is a series of essays by a variety of contributors, the quality and readability varies quite widely, but there is definitely a great deal of material here for discussion and deeper consideration. There are many great points made, ideas suggested, and solutions proposed. If this is a topic that interests you at all, I strongly suggest checking out this book.