Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 Debate, Discourse and Productive Disagreement : Interrogating the Performative Dimensions of Authorship in the Creative Writing Classroom
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'The creative writing curriculum has historically focussed on discipline-specific skills, developing students’ proficiency in literary forms, craft and techniques. However, contemporary writers are increasingly expected to participate in the economy of ideas through festival appearances, debates, and other forms of public speaking – skills that the creative writing curriculum has yet to fully contend with. We argue for the value of teaching debate as a distinct topic of inquiry for creative writing students, and hold that pedagogical innovation is required to address the changing nature of literary cultures and their increasing orientation towards performativity. This article establishes a new pedagogical model designed to introduce creative writing students to the study and practice of debate, comprising four key stages: modelling, scaffolding, debating and reflection. This learning progression not only fosters students’ oral argumentation skills, but also prompts critical reflection on the way key ideas in their field connect with their creative works. We contend that introducing debate into the creative writing curriculum addresses broader shifts in the writing and publishing industry, and that oral argumentation and debate should be considered key graduate competencies for creative writing students in the twenty-first century.' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon New Writing vol. 18 no. 2 2021 21790927 2021 periodical issue

    'I am not asking if it is difficult. It can be. What I am asking is if it is a doctorate in the field of rocket science. Clearly, it is not. In fact, it should not be a doctorate in any other field than creative writing. Yet, over and over again, we find this simple fact misunderstood or misrepresented or misinterpreted. I admit I used to blame colleagues in English and Literary Studies for attempting to bend creative writing study (the methods, philosophies behind the degree, outcomes) to their disciplinary will. But I was wrong – English Literature Departments are not to blame, Literary Studies is not the culprit here. Nor is Cultural Studies, Film and Media Studies, Theatre Studies, Writing Studies, Composition Studies, or Biomedical Studies or Legal Studies, for that matter. If the Doctorate in Creative Writing might as well be a Doctorate in Rocket Science we have no one to blame but ourselves.' (Editorial introduction)

    2021
    pg. 213-228
Last amended 13 May 2021 14:51:10
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