Gloria Anzaldúa, How to Tame a Wild Tongue
Different Kinds of Difference
Gloria Anzaldúa joins Barbara Mellix and Min-Zhan Lu in a growing list of writers who describe having to shift and adjust the ways they speak and write to meet the needs of the different situations they find themselves in. (Richard Rodriguez will continue this theme.) In some ways, you can hardly imagine a more banal insight—since we all routinely change how we talk depending on who we’re speaking to and why. So I’d like to press the question I raised in class on Monday a little more strenuously now: What do these writers add to that familiar observation? How is their version of difference different? And, most important, how do they differ from one another? What does Anzaldúa say that distinguishes her from Lu and from Mellix? How might the terms and ideas raised by Pratt, Hochschild, and Gee help us notice and understand those differences? Please locate a passage in “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” that you feel will help us talk about these issues.
Donald Trump in New Mexico, Mon, 9/16
The Problem of We and Us (with thanks to Amanda G and Kyle)
To Do
Begin to think seriously about possibilities for your final project. In particular, think about the materials you might want to analyze: The books, articles, videos or music you’d like to analyze; the situations or experiences you’d like to describe. You will have a proposal due in three weeks (10/10), and will be asked to submit a text for the rest of us to read and consider in four weeks (10/17).
- Wed, 9/18, 4:00 pm: Group A posts responses to Richard Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire”.
- Thurs, 9/19, 4:00 pm: Everyone else reads Group A’s responses and posts comments on at least two.
- Fri, 9/13, class: We will use those responses and comments to structure our class discussion of Rodriguez.
- Mon, 9/23, class: Read Jay Dolmage’s “Breathe Upon Us”. I will lead our discussion.
E367: Writing and Diversity 