Beyond Argument in Feminist Composition

Abstract

Current discussion of feminist approaches to teaching composition emphasizes the writer's ability to find her own voice through open-ended, exploratory, often autobiographical, writing in which she assumes a sympathetic audience. These approaches are needed and appropriate: they continue to show us the richness and diversity of women's voices. My intent in this essay is to suggest a means by which one can enlarge the sphere of feminist composition by including in it an approach to argument, ways to proceed if one is in conflict with one's audience-in other words, the beginning of a feminist theory of composition. The place to start is not with particular forms-those close off options too easily-but by understanding the range of power relationships available to a writer and her readers. One then determines which are consistent with the emphasis on cooperation, collaboration, shared leadership, and integration of the cognitive and affective which is characteristic of feminist pedagogy (Schniedewind 170-79). This line of exploration has taken me to the study of negotiation and mediation, and how these well-established forms of oral discourse can be adapted for a feminist composition class. Argument still has a place, although now as a means, not an end. The end-a resolution of conflict that is fair to both sides-is possible even in the apparent one-sidedness of written communication.

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