Full Description
A Critique of Anti-racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment critiques current antiracist ideology in rhetoric and composition, arguing that it inadvertently promotes a deficit-model of empowerment for both students and scholars. Erec Smith claims that empowerment theory—which promotes individual, communal, and strategic efficacy—is missing from most antiracist initiatives, which instead often abide by what Smith refers to as a "primacy of identity": an over-reliance on identity, particularly a victimized identity, to establish ethos. Scholars of rhetoric, composition, communication, and critical race theory will find this book particularly useful.
Contents
Introduction: Something "More Than a Negro"
Chapter 1: The Primacy of Identity: Prefiguration, The Sacred Victim, and the Semblance of Empowerment
Chapter 2: So What is Empowerment?
Chapter 3: Disempowerment and Code-meshing Pedagogy
Chapter 4: The "Soft Bigotry" of Antiracist Pedagogy: Victims, Tricksters, and Protectors
Conclusion: Getting Over Ourselves and Centering Empowerment
Epilogue: Am I Overreacting?
