Situated knowledge and the teaching of writing: A rhetorical analysis of the professional writing of women's studies scholars.

Abstract

Feminist scholars have in many instances led the way in challenging the tendency of academics to make transcendent claims from a disembodied and unmarked position, often in the name of objectivity. One means of reinstating the writer in the act of writing and thus circumventing discourse that, in effect, erases the writer as well as the complexities of the subject is to teach from the perspective of situated knowledges: that is, from the understanding that knowledge is mediated by one's cultural, ideological, and historical position. Moreover, the concept of situated knowledges challenges the positivist assumptions that place the writer outside of the cultural and situational context of the research subject. Situated knowledge thus holds out some intriguing possibilities for the future shape of the teaching of academic discourse. Foremost among those experimenting with the practice of positioning oneself in academic discourse are those scholars working in the cross-disciplinary field of Women's Studies. This dissertation analyzes the rhetorical strategies that three feminist scholars working at the University of Arizona employ in situating themselves in their professional writing. Each scholar occupies a different position along the continuum that represents the efforts to locate oneself. The most conservative strategy common to conventional ideological positioning is one in which the writer avoids any reference to personal location while situating herself within a community of scholars by means of reference and citation. Further along the continuum, the writer may invoke a form of strategic essentialism, critiquing those semiotic systems that enforce various forms of oppression while defining the social context to the advantage of the oppressed group. At the furthest extreme, the researcher acts as participant observer, placing herself in the research situation using a self-reflexive research methodology. In closing, I survey the potential that feminist research methodologies hold for writing pedagogy, especially in assisting our students in locating themselves in their own scholarly pursuits.