Synopses & Reviews
I value Gypsy Academics and Mother-Teachers for the compassionate way in which Schell combines a feminist and materialist analysis of the historical and economic conditions that have led to the exploitation of adjunct faculty, the majority of whom are women.
- College English
Fully two-thirds of all part-time teachers in English studies are women, many with no permanent faculty standing, no benefits, no job security, and little or no chance for promotion. How does the "feminization" of writing programs affect the newly formed discipline of rhetoric and composition?
Gypsy Academics and Mother-Teachers illuminates the complex gendered ideologies that surround writing instruction--drawing on feminist theories of women's work, Marxist theories of class and labor, sociological and economic studies of part-time academic employment, and personal interviews with part-time women writing faculty. Eileen Schell contends that part-time faculty members' interests and contributions have been underrepresented in our research narratives and professional histories in rhetoric and composition. Her book attempts to revalue practitioner knowledge and to reclaim the voices and perspectives of part-time women writing instructors as a vital part of the history and growth of rhetoric and composition as a discipline.
Both a theoretical and practical study, Gypsy Academics and Mother-Teachers not only theorizes the structures of gender and labor in writing programs; it also offers administrators, theorists, and practitioners ideas for improving the working conditions and professional status of part-time writing instructors.
Review
I value Gypsy Academics and Mother-Teachers for the compassionate way in which Schell combines a feminist and materialist analysis of the historical and economic conditions that have led to the exploitation of adjunct faculty, the majority of whom are women.College English
Synopsis
Eileen Schell investigates, from a feminist perspective, the complex reasons why women are disproportionately represented in the ranks of contingent writing faculty.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-149) and index.
About the Author
Eileen E. Schell is an assistant professor of writing and English at Syracuse University, where she teaches first-year composition, advanced composition, and graduate courses in composition and the history of rhetoric. She was formerly the codirector of first-year composition at Virginia Tech and adjunct instructor of writing at North Seattle Community College.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Gender, Contingent Labor, and Writing Instruction: Why They Matter
Woman's True Profession: The Rise of a Class of Women Writing Instructors
Factoring In Gender to the Question of Who Works Part-Time and Why
The Rhetorics and Realities of Contingent Writing Instructors
Can a Feminist Agenda Transform the Illusion of Equity into Reality?
What Can We Do? Imperfect Solutions to Imperfect Problems
Appendixes:
A. Interview Questions for Nontenure-Line Faculty
B. Chapter Five Survey
C. Survey Participants for Chapter Five