CFSHRC Statement on Antiracism and Nonviolence
Coalition and Community Members,
The Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition bases its teaching, scholarship, and activism on feminist commitments to equality, education, and social justice.
In light of recent events, including (but unfortunately not limited to) the incidents leading up to the NAACP travel ban for Missouri and the white supremacist march in Virginia, the Coalition reaffirms its support for non-violent efforts (whether academic, pedagogical, or community-based) to confront systemic racism and the violence it engenders. We stand in solidarity with those engaged in the difficult work of principled action and with the members of our community who are actively seeking opportunities to speak up and out, to march, to write, to call, to teach. Right now is the time to put our rhetorical training to use. We urge everyone, in whatever way they can: Be safe. Be feminist. Be heard.
Please also consider joining us the 2017 Feminisms and Rhetorics: Rhetorics, Rights, and Revolutions, in Dayton, Ohio (where the Dayton Peace Accord was signed). The conference will feature multiple sessions regarding activism in its various forms. Many of the special sessions can be located here: http://femrhet2017.cwshrc.org/
From your CFSHRC Executive Board
How many of us lament our busy lives, and wonder how we can possibly balance the demands of family, work, and even maybe self? This year’s Coalition session arose from conversations and frustrations that Coalition members have expressed over the years—how do we do all that we do and still (maybe) even stay sane?
Five years ago, Gesa Kirsch and Jacqueline Jones Royster published Feminist Rhetorical Practices: New Horizons for Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies. Met with much critical acclaim, Feminist Rhetorical Practices offered historians of rhetoric and composition a way to read, interpret, and analyze historical texts through the lenses of social circulation, critical imagination, strategic contemplation, and globalization. An immediate success, the text had—and continues to have—a major impact on the historical feminist thinking in our field.
