Composition and Cornel West: Notes toward a Deep Democracy

177 Pages·2008·2.98 MB·English

by  Keith Gilyard

Composition / Rhetoric / African American Studies G
IL
Y
A
R
D
“Composition and Cornel West is an engaging study of a major intel-
lect and his importance for rhetoric and composition. . . . It asks us
C
to think hard about our role as citizens participating in the demo- O
cratic experiment that is the United States of America.” M COMPOSITION AND
P
—Bradford T. Stull, author of Amid the Fall, Dreaming of Eden: O
S
Du Bois, King, Malcolm X, and Emancipatory Composition
I
T
I CORNEL WEST
O
“Keith Gilyard’s scholarship is superlative, demonstrating a com- N
A
mand of canonized and contemporary disciplines, including phi-
N
losophy, rhetoric, composition, American literature, and African D
C
American expressive culture.” O
R
—David G. Holmes, author of Revisiting Racialized Voice:
N
African American Ethos in Language and Literature E
L
W Notes toward a Deep Democracy
Composition and Cornel West: Notes toward a Deep Democracy identifies E
S
and explains key aspects of the work of Cornel West as they relate to com- T
:
position studies, focusing on rhetorical strategies that comprise an up- N
o
dated form of cultural criticism that West calls prophetic pragmatism. t
e
This is the first book to comprehensively connect the ideas of one of s
t
America’s premier scholars of religion, philosophy, and African American o
w
studies with composition theory and pedagogy, and it contains the only a KEITH GILYARD
r
interview in which Cornel West directly addresses the field of composi- d
tion. a
D
e
e
Keith Gilyard is Distinguished Professor of English at Pennsylvania State
p
University, University Park, and an award-winning author of numerous D
e
books and publications. m
o
c
r
a
southern illinois university press c
y
1915 university press drive
mail code 6806
carbondale, il 62901
www.siu.edu/~siupress
US
NO
iissbbnn 097-88-009-38-2089534-2-28 54-3 IVERSITUTHERN
Y P ILL
REIN
SO
SIS
Printed in the United States of America
Gilyard mechical.indd 1 3/27/08 11:48:18 AM
(cid:3)
(cid:73)
(cid:71)
(cid:74)
(cid:73)
(cid:77)
(cid:67)
(cid:78)
(cid:67)
(cid:73)
(cid:72)
(cid:0)
(cid:59)
(cid:72)
(cid:62)
(cid:0)
(cid:3)
(cid:73)
(cid:76)
(cid:72)
(cid:63)
(cid:70)
(cid:0)
(cid:23)
(cid:63)
(cid:77)
(cid:78)
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 1 3/12/08 7:28:20 AM
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 2 3/12/08 7:28:21 AM
(cid:3)(cid:15)(cid:13)(cid:16)(cid:15)(cid:19)(cid:9)(cid:20)(cid:9)(cid:15)(cid:14)(cid:0)(cid:1)(cid:14)(cid:4)
(cid:3)(cid:15)(cid:18)(cid:14)(cid:5)(cid:12)(cid:0)(cid:23)(cid:5)(cid:19)(cid:20)
(cid:14)(cid:73)(cid:78)(cid:63)(cid:77)(cid:0)(cid:78)(cid:73)(cid:81)(cid:59)(cid:76)(cid:62)(cid:0)(cid:59)(cid:0)(cid:4)(cid:63)(cid:63)(cid:74)(cid:0)(cid:4)(cid:63)(cid:71)(cid:73)(cid:61)(cid:76)(cid:59)(cid:61)(cid:83)(cid:0)
(cid:11)(cid:5)(cid:9)(cid:20)(cid:8)(cid:0)(cid:7)(cid:9)(cid:12)(cid:25)(cid:1)(cid:18)(cid:4)
(cid:72)(cid:100)(cid:106)(cid:105)(cid:93)(cid:90)(cid:103)(cid:99)(cid:21)(cid:62)(cid:97)(cid:97)(cid:94)(cid:99)(cid:100)(cid:94)(cid:104)(cid:21)(cid:74)(cid:99)(cid:94)(cid:107)(cid:90)(cid:103)(cid:104)(cid:94)(cid:105)(cid:110)(cid:21)(cid:69)(cid:103)(cid:90)(cid:104)(cid:104)(cid:21)(cid:36)(cid:21)(cid:56)(cid:86)(cid:103)(cid:87)(cid:100)(cid:99)(cid:89)(cid:86)(cid:97)(cid:90)
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 3 3/12/08 7:28:21 AM
Copyright © 2008 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
11 10 09 08 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gilyard, Keith, 1952–
Composition and Cornel West : notes toward a
deep democracy / Keith Gilyard.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13:978-0-8093-2854-3 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10:0-8093-2854-2 (alk. paper)
1.African Americans—Intellectual life. 2.African
American philosophy. 3.West, Cornel—Philosophy.
4.West, Cornel—Political and social views.
5.Democracy—United States. 6.Rhetoric—
Philosophy. 7.Rhetoric—Political aspects—United
States. 8.Rhetoric—Social aspects—United States.
9.English language—United States—Rhetoric.
I. Title.
E185.86.G4952008
305.896'073—dc22 2007033416
Printed on recycled paper.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for In-
formation Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992.∞
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 4 3/12/08 7:28:22 AM
In memory of
Nefertiti Nicole Williams
((cid:16)(cid:24)(cid:23)(cid:21)(cid:0)–(cid:17)(cid:15)(cid:15)(cid:21))
outstanding and beautiful journalist
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 5 3/12/08 7:28:22 AM
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 6 3/12/08 7:28:22 AM
I give much weight to teaching in the academy and in the larger
society. In fact, the priority I give to reading and speaking is closely
related to the centrality of teaching in my intellectual vocation.
In this sense, I am more a public teacher than public intellectual
(a phrase I have never used to describe myself, though I have also
never rejected it!), more interested in Socratic probing of the public
than pronouncing blueprints for the public.
—Cornel West, “Philosophy and the Funk of Life”
If there is a master term in my text—and work—it is democracy.
—Cornel West, “The Tragicomic and the
Political in Christian Faith”
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 7 3/12/08 7:28:22 AM
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 8 3/12/08 7:28:22 AM
(cid:3)(cid:73)(cid:72)(cid:78)(cid:63)(cid:72)(cid:78)(cid:77)
Acknowledgments xi
1. Flight West 1
2. The Roots of a Deep-Democratic Project 7
3. Socratic Commitment and Critical Literacy 27
4. Tracking Prophetic Witness 52
5. Tragicomic Hope in Democracy 77
6. Landing Song 99
Notes 123
Bibliography 137
Index 153
Gilyard Frontmatter.indd 9 3/12/08 7:28:22 AM