This article describes and reflects on a place-based pedagogical approach to public engagement that uses multimodal composition to insert new discourses into ongoing local debates over university expansion. The public-forming potential of multimodal texts encourages students to imagine new ways of being public and opportunities for adopting community-oriented subjectivities that engage with the issues, people, and spaces in neighborhoods adjacent to campus.

Analyzing the function of quasi-public intellectuals in debates over the Common Core State Standards helps us to understand why some publics in a networked public sphere have greater influence in policy-making than other publics. Granted authority because of privileged access to the state, quasi-public intellectuals introduced discourse into education publics that influenced reception of the Common Core, divided potential (counter)publics, and created an exigency that foreclosed possibilities for debating policy alternatives. Theorizing how these intellectuals manipulate debate allows us to recognize other arenas in which they operate and to develop strategies for inviting stakeholders to meaningfully participate in public deliberation.

Review Article| April 01 2017 The Crisis of Composition: Teaching and Resistance in the Neoliberal Era Composition in the Age of Austerity. Edited by Welch, Nancy and Scott, Tony. Utah State University Press, 2016. 235 pages. Phillip Goodwin Phillip Goodwin Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Pedagogy (2017) 17 (2): 351–358. https://doi.org/10.1215/15314200-3770245 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Phillip Goodwin; The Crisis of Composition: Teaching and Resistance in the Neoliberal Era. Pedagogy 1 April 2017; 17 (2): 351–358. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/15314200-3770245 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsPedagogy Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2017 by Duke University Press2017 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Reviews You do not currently have access to this content.