Cultural Studies in the Writing Center: Writing Centers as Sites of Political Intervention

Abstract

This chapter explores how writing centers can enact counter-hegemonic work through helping writers gain deeper understandings of contexts: audiences, writing situations, genre expectations, and power relations. It maps the position of writing centers, develops cultural studies for writing center work, and suggests strategies for writing coaches. Drawing theoretically on Stuart Hall, Lawrence Grossberg, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, and Antonio Gramsci, this chapter shows how coaches and writers can develop understandings of complexity, contingency, and contextuality. It then shows how these understandings can help coaches and writers map meanings; identify binaries, possible third positions, affordances, and constraints; and map political, economic, ideological, material, and social forces and structures. These techniques can help writers reflect critically on their use of genre and non-hegemonic codes, as well as recognize deeper complexities of writing situations and writing topics.