My Website

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Site Map of Final Project

I will host this website on a sub domain of a website.

Home Page:

Using Flash, I will include seven floating icons (the point of having floating icons is to achieve a nonlinear presentation of these elements); each will take the viewer to a different page that represents an element of this website.

About this Website:

This page will include (1) the rationale behind designing this website, (2) information about me, (3) and instructions on how to use this website. Here is what these sections might say:

(1) The rationale behind it: 

I have designed this web site to function as a primary source for my 306J (Women and Writing) students. The theme of this course is focused on how acknowledging and historicizing difference and otherness contribute to our students’ literacies and their ongoing negotiations of their identities. The website experience provides a space for them to engage in this process.

For this website, I have collected images, stories, interviews, and descriptions of cultural practices that involve women across cultures and  have contextualized these materials in their historical contexts. I view this web site as an assemblage of different modes and forms—a space that is inclusive of difference in both content and form. My goal is to use associations and relations of different visual and alphabetical elements to create a coherent whole that tells stories of difference and help students position themselves in this conversation while resisting a linear patriarchal structure that highly values logos in both content and form; this can be noticed from the design of the website where all icons are floating in a nonlinear space. This is a dialogical space in which the power structure is horizontal rather than hierarchical—a space where identities are negotiated and renegotiated with the “Other” on equal grounds.

(2) About me:

I’m Lana Oweidat, a PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Composition at Ohio University. I’m interested in transnational and postcolonial feminist rhetorics, theories, and pedagogies and how they challenge and broaden our understanding of cultures, identities, texts, ourselves, etc. In addition to working on my PhD, I teach undergraduate writing classes and I’m currently working as Assistant to the Director of Composition.

(3) How to use this web site:

This section will provide a detailed description of how users of this web site can navigate it efficiently. I will include an icon that takes the viewer back to the home page. 

Activities:

I will create in-class activities that speak to the theme of the course. These activities will be uploaded as word documents or as PDFs. They might include images or videos for illustrative purposes, or they might ask students to compose a mini project that includes visual components.

I will include an icon that takes the viewer back to the home page.

 

Assignments:

This page will include the assignment that I worked on for this class. Perhaps I will create new assignments, or adapt ones that have been used by other writing instructors. An icon will take the viewer back to the home page.

Stories of Difference:

This section is the kernel of this website since it will provide students with different materials (interviews, YouTube videos, poems, images, music, etc.) that will expose them to experiences that differ from the norm. I will start this page with a brief introduction that gives an overview of the stories that I want to include here.

Using Flash, there will be three icons; each will represent a cultural practice: (Chinese foot binding?), (the veil?), and (honor crimes?). Each of these icons will take the viewer to a different page dedicated to one of the cultural phenomenon mentioned above. On this page, I will include an icon that takes the viewer back to the home page.

On the page of each cultural phenomenon, I will include an image of a woman representing that culture in addition to different cultural representations (poems, interviews, descriptions of the cultural practice). Also, I’m thinking of including an audio of the popular cultural music from the area (this all depends on the availability of these items for public use). Since I have less than half a month to finish this project and since I’m envisioning this as an ongoing project, I will work on three of these cultural practices for now and include more later. 

In order to immerse the student in a particular culture, I will try my best to let the “Other women” speak for themselves and include conversations in different languages to envelope them in that culture and then the student gets the experience of being the “Other.”

Theory, Pedagogy, and Praxis:

Since I envision this web site as the outcome of the marriage between the theory and pedagogy of transnational feminism and that of multimodal composition studies, I want to include an alphabetical literature review of the main theories that create the foundation for my project. Therefore, from transnational feminist theory and pedagogy, I will incorporate the work of the following scholars: Chandra Mohanty, Uma Narayan, Lila Abu-Lughod, Katarzyne Marciniak, Mary Queen, etc. As for multimodal composition studies, I will include articles that tackle themes of transnationalism, globalization, the linkage between technology and literacy, evaluating the uses of technology with a critical eye, etc. (C. Selfe and Wysocki touch upon some of those themes). This literature review will also emphasize the importance of being aware of the politics of representation and of reflectivity.  I will include an icon that takes the viewer back to the home page.

Materials:

On this page, I will include the alphabetical texts that I require for this class. I will upload articles and links to books that my students will read for this class. I will include an icon that takes the viewer back to the home page.

I know that I’m being overly ambitious with this project, but because I think of it as an ongoing project I will complete as much of it as I can in the limited time frame.

Tentative Final Project Proposal

I want to work on a video project that helps students acknowledge and historicize difference and otherness. I will collect images, stories, interviews, and descriptions of cultural practices that involve women across cultures and contextualize these materials in their historical contexts. I’m thinking of  this video as an assemblage of different modes and forms (a collage). My goal is to use associations and relations of different visual and alphabetical elements (I’m resisting the linear patriarchal structure that highly values logos in both content and form) to create a coherent whole that tells stories of difference.

Here’s a tentative task list:

1. I need to do some research. I see this project as the outcome of the marriage between the theory and pedagogy of transnational feminism and that of multimodal composition studies. Therefore, I’m going to read works in both fields. From transnational feminist theory and pedagogy, I will incorporate the theories of the following scholars: Chandra Mohanty, Uma Narayan, and Lila Abu-Lughod. As for multimodal composition studies, I will look for articles that tackle themes of transnationalism, globalization, the linkage between technology and literacy, evaluating the uses of technology with a critical eye, etc. (C. Selfe and Wysocki touch upon some of those themes).
2.  I have to think of what stories, images, cultural practices, etc. are controversial / different and usually make the audience uncomfortable to a certain degree (I’m not aiming at something scary here nor my goal is to alienate the audience). Work on a storyboard?
3. I will use Creative Commons to find the materials. I need to familiarize myself with Movie Maker. I will type up some quotes that I think might enhance the video experience. Maybe include parts of interviews? Stories?
4. I want to emphasize the importance of being aware of the politics of representation, so I might narrate parts of this video and let the “Other women” speak for themselves. I might include conversations in different languages.
5. I will look for different cultural music (Creative Commons?) that corresponds with the stories/images I want to include in this video.

Revised Conference Proposal

Proposal (revised), University of Cincinnati Graduate Conference

Anxious Spaces: Constructing, Historicizing, and Contextualizing Images and Stories of Difference and Otherness

In her 1998 keynote address at the CCCC, Cynthia Selfe urged composition instructors to pay attention to the inextricable linkage between technology and literacy. Additionally, she joins Gail Hawisher, Brittney Moraski, and Melissa Pearson in their 2004 article in which they associate being literate in the information age with one’s ability to situate literacies of technology within “specific cultural, material, educational, and familial contexts.” Echoing this concern, many transnational feminists, such as Mary Queen, warn that technology is “often perceived, paradoxically, as a technology that connects us to others while it simultaneously remains disconnected from material reality.” These scholars agree that teaching our students how to pay critical attention to the issues generated by technology and their implications has become an ethical imperative for teachers. Therefore, in the teaching of writing about women across cultures, we and our students should be aware of how the media has helped construct the image of “the Other woman” while ignoring her lived material conditions. We should question: How can we utilize multimodal composition praxis to create a space beyond the binary of “self” and “Other” in the writing classroom? Although these concerns over technology are legitimate, I believe that incorporating a pedagogy of difference and otherness into the writing class via the creation of and the interaction with multimodal texts can result in a deeper understanding of the “Other woman.” My presentation introduces a web site that is constructed with these themes in mind. The web site is organized in a way that places images and stories about women across cultures within their historical contexts, encouraging students to acknowledge difference and find commonalities to relate to the “Other.” This provides a dialogical space in which the power structure is horizontal rather than hierarchal—a space where identities are negotiated and renegotiated with the “Other” on equal grounds. 

Equipment needs: Internet access, projector, and speakers should be on.

Conference Proposal Draft

Proposal, University of Cincinnati Graduate Conference

Anxious Spaces: Constructing, Historicizing, and Contextualizing Images and Stories of Difference and Otherness

Many neoliberal feminists and scholars cheered the use of technology which provided a venue of expression for women in nonwestern countries, implying that these women had no agency prior to technology. Images and stories of these women have bombarded the Internet, and are consumed in a superficial manner that lacks consideration to materiality. Some have even imposed a political or a personal agenda on these materials. In 2009, Time used the photograph of a disfigured Afghani woman accompanied by the line, “What Happens if We Leave Afghanistan,” deliberately eliminating the question mark to manipulate the suffering of Afghani women for a political agenda. The media has helped to construct the image of the “Other woman” while ignoring her lived material conditions. Many transnational feminists, such as Mary Queen, warn that technology is “profoundly implicated in globalized capitalist practices” and is “often perceived, paradoxically, as a technology that connects us to others while it simultaneously remains disconnected from material reality” (473). Echoing this concern, Cynthia Selfe defines new media texts “in terms of materiality instead of digitality” (19). In the teaching of writing about women across cultures, we should question: How can we create a space that goes beyond the binary of “self” and “Other” in the writing classroom? How can technology promote tolerance and acknowledgment of the “Other” rather than alienate the student?

 Although these concerns over technology are legitimate, I believe that incorporating a pedagogy of difference and otherness into the writing class via the creation of and the interaction with multimodal texts can result in a deeper understanding of the “Other woman.” These projects provide our students with spaces that help them historicize and contextualize these images and stories rather than viewing them out of context—a practice that might lead to exoticizing and essentializing them. My presentation introduces a web site that is constructed with these themes in mind. The web site is organized in a way that speaks to human experience by placing images and stories about women across cultures within their historical contexts, which encourages students to acknowledge difference and find commonalities to relate to the “Other.” This provides a dialogical space in which the power structure is horizontal rather than hierarchal—a space where identities are negotiated and renegotiated with the “Other” on equal grounds. 

Equipment needs: Internet access, projector, and speakers should be on.

Blogs are Cool, but.....

The weekly blog posts give me a chance to synthesize the weekly readings, to think about the connections and the bigger picture these sources provide, and to push me to create a product by class time each week. Blogging about the readings makes me more aware of where I stand and determines which of the readings triggers a reaction in me and why.  In turn, I’m able to observe the reactions of others to the same readings and to comment and to challenge each other to think more in-depth about the reading. My classmates’ comments and replies increase my writing efficiency by providing a means of getting feedback on each blog post. In addition to providing emotional and professional support, their constructive criticism is very helpful to improve my next blog post. 

Although I have my reservations with the issue of considering blogs and wikis egalitarian spaces, I appreciate the opportunity of having a personal, a (non-threatening?) writing space of my own in which I can voice my opinions and comment and respond to different ideas and thoughts. By visiting, reading, and commenting on my classmates’ blog posts, I feel like a member of a community of learners (Dr. Rouzie and my classmates); however, I know that my immediate environment is not my only audience.

In addition, the search for images and videos that correspond with my post can be sometimes time-consuming, but I have discovered that browsing for images trigger other related ideas that could be included in a blog post. For example, while I was browsing Google images for an image that captures the theme of the child’s innateness of multimodality to include in my blog post, I came across this image (click here), which made me think of how this innateness was suppressed by the educational system and the need to standardize citizens. 

Unlike wikis, blogs are not collaborative educational tools, or perhaps they are collaborative in a different way—through the sharing of links, resources, ideas, etc. I find it helpful to read the blog posts before class because they usually highlight certain points that I didn’t pay attention to in the readings, show different understandings of the same material, introduce new perspectives, and provide me with a good recap of the readings. Also, the immediacy of the nature of the blog means that I don’t have to wait months for feedback or for publication.  

Blogs are wonderful and everything, but I don’t trust them! Blogs delude us to believe that they are safe and reliable spaces. Let me explain. For me, the writing process itself doesn’t take place directly on the blog. I do it on a word document and then copy and paste it to the blog. Last year, while I was fixing the sound effects of one of my blog posts, everything was erased and then the blog saved an empty page automatically! I had to reconstruct the visuals, hyperlinks, etc. from scratch. Another problem that I have with blogs is the same as the one that I have with wikis and with other open-source applications: lack of closure, which, I think, functions on the positive and the negative level. In “Working with Wikis in Writing-Intensive Classes,” Michelle Cleary et al. report that one negative aspect of the wiki according to one student is that “wikis made the student feel like class was never out of session.”  Blogs are demanding! They demand our attention most of the time. We need to compose, read, respond, think, reflect, search for images, etc. in order to effectively engage in this activity.

Over all, I feel that the blog experience has been useful for me to develop as a critical thinker and writer. It makes me aware of the diversity and the similarities that we have as a community of learners. 

With Reservations!

Kara Poe Alexander argues that revising multimodal texts is not an easy task, but it can be done by conducting “well-structured peer reviews provided in carefully designed studio sessions that focus on rhetorical issues” (137). I find the forms, the sample multimodal assignments, and the advice she provides very helpful; however, I feel that the ghost of the alphabetical text haunts Alexander’s notion of responding to and revising  multimodal projects—perhaps this is why revision and peer-review of multimodal texts as presented by Alexander seem like a daunting task. The basic difference between alphabetical texts and multimodal projects relies on the fact that in writing alphabetical texts/essays, synthesizing sources and reaching a conclusion is essential while composers of multimodal texts collect and juxtapose different modalities (words, images, colors, sound, etc.) without necessarily reaching a conclusion (Douglas Hesse makes this distinction). In multimodal projects, the modalities intersect, but I don’t see them interact (they remain separate entities) the way I see the author of an essayistic essay synthesizing her sources and the ideas of others to form an argument. Therefore, I feel that there is a need to redefine the redefinition of responding to students’ multimodal projects as presented by Alexander. I don’t have an alternative framework in mind for now, but it’s an invitation to think of responding to students’ works in a different way.

 Since multimodal texts are not only constructed by the audience, but also “recomposed”/"reconstructed" by them, here, I think, revision goes beyond the global level of essayistic prose. For example, one of Alexander’s recommendations for those who are working on scrapbooks or collages is to keep them in a “semi-fluid state until the peer-review is completed” (123). This semi-fluid state declares the death of the author/composer. The audience becomes the composer/the receiver/ the decision maker/ the real agent. I’m all for empowering the audience, but I, as an author/composer, don’t want to reach a point where my text doesn’t belong to me anymore and is not revised/composed and recomposed by me. Sometimes we, as authors, feel the need to affix words/objects on a page and defend our stance. Our thesis statement is the glue that affixes our words/objects in our work. Although Alexander’s notion of multimodal revision is practical, I think it overempowers the audience at the expense of the author/creator/composer.

Another point that has raised questions for me from last week’s readings is Branscum and Toscano’s conclusion:

“Teachers do not need to invent completely new teaching practices to integrate multimodal composition assignments into their classes. Their own comfortable approaches and practices may, however, need to be altered slightly to make room for the kinds of open-ended exploration that multimodal composing can involve” (98).

                                         

I have a problem with the word “slightly.” The more I read about composing/ assessing/evaluating /teaching/learning multimodal projects, the more I feel that requiring students to work on multimodal compositions and designing multimodal assignments is A LOT of work. Teachers need to give up “their extensive knowledge of genre, their finely tuned understanding of composing processes, and their familiarity with composing tasks and outcomes,” and partake in, what Church and Powell call “an exciting opportunity to join students as fellow learners” (152). I doubt that all of this can be considered a slight change in the theories and pedagogies that constitute our field.