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08/20/2004 Archived Entry: "Theories I Believe In"
Theories I Believe In Part I
Heuretics: Probably the biggest missed opportunity for composition theory. Invention for the digital. Instead, composition continues to imagine invention as anything but inventive, opting to teach students to draw only from commonplace assumptions (i.e. the cliché and what they already know).
Mythologies: Roland Barthes' concept of the mythology (what we assume to be natural is, in fact, a construction) informs most of cultural studies. Barthes later let go of the "unveiling" part of mythology and focused more on the productive part. Because that's the part most attractive to me, I also have to throw in Craig Saper's artificial mythologies, since my Florida School co-pat focuses on production over interpretation in his application of Barthes. Mythologies is also the basis of the "Writing Detroit" article I am working on (and the course which inspired it).
Gravity: Keeps us on earth for the time being. And important for beer making.
The Rhetoric of Cool: I'm from the Andy Warhol School of self production (carefully aligned with the Norman Mailer School of Advertisements for Yourself). So I got to say, this cool thing really is amazing.
Hip Hop Pedagogy: See above.
The Cut-Up: Folks, if you don't get it by now, get it. Burroughs' work is the basis of any interest in new media. Get your old copy of Nova Express out and start reading.
Interpellation: Althusser can be so boring. And maybe he was a fraud. But on this idea, he hit it on the head. All media hail us: HEY YOU!
Dissonance: Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Thelonious Monk ….who needs clarity when you have a system of composition which challenges all of our fixed beliefs, which unsettles everything we find comfortable and relaxing, and which still makes certain things meaningful again? Take it to the visual level and you have Kenneth Anger and Jack Smith. Take it to writing and you have Kodwo Eshun. VV’s sub/version comes to mind here…
Applied Grammatology: The guy was my dissertation director. You can't look away from your most immediate influence. The best thing Greg taught me was to teach folks "how to make stuff." The idea of "applying" theory still is lost among those who would rather test students for what about the theory they remember (and will quickly forget).
Collage: It's been with us for a long time, but typically is treated as novelty. McLuhan did the best job of applying it to new media and writing by actually using it in his work (both textual and visual). Composition reduces it to Elbow-based "but in the end make sure everything is clear for your audience" which isn't collage at all. Rotella's decollage is another missed moment in our field's history. His Elvis should be required theory-making. Greil Marcus' Dead Elvis poses collage best as a moment of celebritacy (or I pose it as such, see comments above for more self-promotion).
The Mix: Hell, if you’ve read this weblog before, you know how I feel about the mix and the re-mix.
English Composition as a Happening: Geoff makes writing studies enjoyable, but never sacrifices intellectual work in doing so. Too often, his work is treated as only something "he" can do. And there again, we miss the boat. Once we reduce theories to personality, we might as well concede pedagogy to the lowest common denominator and unflinching status quo. We'd be better off throwing a huge chuck of argumentation studies out the window, and start re-reading what Geoff is doing with the Happening, The A&P Parking Lot, The Sex Pistols, and writing in general. Next: Theories I Don't Believe In
