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Reading Club: Why I Call It the Academic Ghetto

September 14, 2022 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT

Reading club provides a space to discuss writing center scholarship. Based on the article or chapter chosen, participants will share experiences, ideas, strategies, and questions about online writing centers (OWCs). This Reading Club will discuss “Why I Call It the Academic Ghetto: A Critical Examination of Race, Place, and Writing Centers” by Alexandria Lockett in Praxis: A Writing Center Journal.

Reading Abstract

“This article investigates my lived experience as a black queer writing center tutor for the purposes of theorizing the transformative power of learning centers. Drawing on several perspectives and methods offered in Praxis’s special issue on Access and Equity in Graduate Writing Support, this article argues that the antiracist potential of writing centers depends on more comprehensive analyses of how writing centers function as racialized places. Using the metaphor of the “academic ghetto,” I signify on the misconception of writing centers as places for correcting deficiency. I apply my analysis to both an Undergraduate Writing Center (WCs) and a Graduate Writing Center (GWC) space to systematically discover how racial biases mediate and construct these learning spaces. In particular, I structure my discussion through a blend of personal narrative and critical analysis that illustrates the epistemic conflict and character of the “academic ghetto.” The article concludes with a call to invent antiracist practices for writing centers that model more inclusive methods of living in these spaces.”

Guidelines for Participating

Reading Club is currently held in a Zoom Pro room. Participation is open to everyone, including not-yet OWCA members. To ensure a safe space for open communication and interaction, these sessions will not be recorded.

Register

You can register for a reading club through the scheduling system below. Follow these steps:

  1. Select your time zone from the drop-down menu
  2. Click the “Register” button next to the event you’d like to attend
  3. Fill out the registration form and click “Complete Registration”
  4. Save your confirmation email to have the Zoom information or cancel your registration later. You can also respond to this email to contact the event organizers.

A reminder email will also be sent the morning of the event.

Details

Date:
September 14, 2022
Time:
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT

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