Tell us a little bit about your recent and upcoming work.
In 2017, I published my second book, Inside the Subject: A Theory of Identity for the Study of Writing. It develops a theory of identity for use by scholars and researchers who study writing from postmodern perspectives. Historically, in the field of Writing Studies, the concepts of “identity” and “postmodernism” have been considered incompatible. My book tries to reconcile them.
Later this month, the flagship journal in my field, College Composition and Communication, will publish “Moving Knowledge Forward.” It’s a review essay in which I examine three recently published books that, in different ways, discuss how knowledge about writers and writing processes is produced and distributed.
Currently, I’m co-editing (with Iris Ruiz of UC-Merced) a collection of essays titled Nuestra América: Latinx Perspectives on Writing, Rhetorics, and Literacies. It brings together younger scholars in my field whose research addresses some aspect of latinidad in the United States and beyond. It’s under contract, and we expect to have a manuscript ready by the middle of 2019.
Also, I’m working on a book that explores the potential impact that Latin American theories of decoloniality might have on the contemporary study of writing and rhetoric.
What are some of the cultural studies courses you teach or have taught?
Right now I’m teaching an undergraduate course that focuses on the work of Gloria Anzaldúa and CherrÃe Moraga, two major chicana lesbian feminist theorists. In the past, I’ve taught a postcolonial studies course that emphasizes decolonial theory by focusing on Latinx and Latin American writers. I’ve also taught a cultural studies course that draws connections between 20th century U.S. rhetorical theory and chicana feminism.
What is the biggest thing people should take away from your work?
That things are always more complicated than we think they are, and that this is ok.
— Rachel Wayne
Book Recommendations
Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
Evelio Grillo, Black Cuban, Black American: A Memoir
Angel Rama, The Lettered City