Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Sep 2010 Open Access

An English Teacher’s Manifesto, or Writing My Way into Labor Activism

Amy Lynch-Biniek

Abstract

This is the story of my first attempt to write myself into labor activism in higher education. As an untenured teacher protesting retrenchment and increases in class sizes at a public university, I explore the risks inherent not only in directly addressing critique to management, but also in publicly posting that critique via blog and Facebook. I note the potential protections of public writing at a unionized school, and discuss the surprising benefits of even small actions for a culture of labor consciousness.

Journal
Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
Published
2010-09-01
DOI
10.59236/rjv10i1pp206-229
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Topics
teacher development labor and working conditions digital rhetoric social media
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References (14)

  1. (2005)
    Works Cited Across the Drafts: Students and Teachers Talk About Feedback
  2. Bousquet (2008)
    How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low-Wage Nation
  3. Farrell (2005)
    The Blogosphere as Carnival of Ideas
    Chronicle of Higher Education
  4. (1996)
    Eloquent Dissent: The Writings of James Sledd
  5. Giroux (2007)
    The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex
Show all 14 →
  1. Lynch-Biniek (2008)
    Ink Work: Organizing, Advocacy and Knowledge Work
  2. Mahoney (2010)
    Manifesto Article
  3. Mahoney (2007)
    On Assembling the Choir
  4. Riedner
    Democracies to Come: Rhetorical Action, Neoliberalism, and Communities of Resistnce
  5. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. Print.
  6. Shirky (2008)
    Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
  7. Sledd (1977)
    Or Get Off the Pot: Notes Toward the Restoration of Moderate Honesty Even in English Depa…
    ADE Bulletin  ↗
  8. Sledd (1987)
    Or Get Off the Pot: Notes Toward the Restoration of Moderate Honesty Even in English Depa…
    English Education  ↗
  9. Smallwood (2004)
    Disappearing Act
    Chronicle of Higher Education
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