Technical Communication Quarterly Jul 2018

“Bridging the Gap between Food Pantries and the Kitchen Table”: Teaching Embodied Literacy in the Technical Communication Classroom

Kathryn Yankura Swacha Christopher Newport University

Abstract

Drawing from literature on communication as a physical, material experience, this article expands Cargile Cook’s “layered literacies” (2002) pedagogical framework to include a seventh literacy—embodied literacy. The article uses a classroom case study in which students coproduced a cookbook with low-income, elderly, disabled users, to demonstrate how students can become more responsible and effective technical communicators by recognizing users’ divergent embodied experiences. The article includes suggestions for concrete classroom practices that encourage such embodied literacy.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2018-07-03
DOI
10.1080/10572252.2018.1476589
Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Burnett et al. (2025)
    Birthing Genre: Conventions of Rhetorical Situation and Accessibility of Inform…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Pennell et al. (2024)
    Survival and Distinctiveness: The Impulses Shaping the Communication Practices …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Dubisar (2024)
    “Dainty, Sparkling, Delicious”: Jell-O Constructions of White Femininity
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. DeTora (2023)
    Deciphering Nested Literacies: A Case Study of <i>Allosaurus Fragilis</i> at th…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Kingsbury (2023)
    What Wizardry is this?: Somatic Listening and Verbal Metaphor in an Undergradua…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Show all 9 →
  1. Allen (2022)
    Handling Family Business: Technical Communication Literacies in Black Family Reunions
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Swacha (2021)
    Living Visual-voice as a Community-based Social Justice Research Method in Tech…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Campbell (2021)
    Rhetorical Body Work: Professional Embodiment in Health Provider Education and …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Sánchez (2020)
    Examining Methectic Technical Communication in an Urban Planning Comic Book
    Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (20)

  1. Hea et al. (2016)
    Silent Partners: Developing a Critical Understanding of Community Partners in T…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Moeller et al. (2016)
    Food Fights: Cookbook Rhetorics, Monolithic Constructions of Womanhood, and Fie…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. White-Farnham (2014)
    “Revising the Menu to Fit the Budget”: Grocery Lists and Other Rhetorical Heirlooms
    College English
  4. Owens et al. (2013)
    Writing With(out) Pain: Computing Injuries and the Role of the Body in Writing …
    Computers and Composition
  5. Walters (2010)
    Toward an Accessible Pedagogy: Dis/ability, Multimodality, and Universal Design…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 20 →
  1. Owens (2009)
    Confronting Rhetorical Disability
    Written Communication
  2. Rumsey (2009)
    Heritage Literacy: Adoption, Adaptation, and Alienation of Multimodal Literacy Tools
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  3. Sun (2006)
    The Triumph of Users: Achieving Cultural Usability Goals With User Localization
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Palmeri (2006)
    Disability Studies, Cultural Analysis, and the Critical Practice of Technical C…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Kazan (2005)
    Dancing Bodies in the Classroom: Moving toward an Embodied Pedagogy
    Pedagogy
  6. Bowdon (2004)
    Technical Communication and the Role of the Public Intellectual: A Community HI…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. Clark (2004)
    Is Professional Writing Relevant? A Model for Action Research
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  8. Scott (2004)
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Ethics of Engagement: User-Centered Design and Rhetorical Methodology
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Making disability visible: How disability studies might transform the medical a…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Embodied Knowledge
    Written Communication
  15. Durack (1997)
    Gender, Technology, and the History of Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Also cites 15 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 12 View in citation network →

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