Very Like a Whale
The Assessment of Writing Programs
“The authors in Talking Back offer a rich array of interesting and keenly insightful perspectives on writing studies. These scholars help us understand where they—as well as the field and many of its subfields—have been, where they are now, and where they are headed. We see how these scholars have helped to shape writing studies—and how writing studies has helped to shape their research and teaching. What a delightful read!”
—Duane Roen, Arizona State University
"The perspectives of these elders alone would make an impressive book, but including the dialogue with less seasoned scholars makes this an indispensable collection. We will be talking about Talking Back for a long time to come."
—Anne Ruggles Gere, University of Michigan
"An excellent primer for curious undergraduates and new graduate students. . . Overall, this volume provides a road map for emerging research on composition studies."
—CHOICE
"Overall, this edited collection speaks softly to those who have done their time, and boldly to those entering the field... There will never be another collection in our field like this, nor could there be. I feel so thankful for this curation of voices before the voices become echoes."
—Community Literacy Journal
In Talking Back, a veritable Who’s Who of writing studies scholars deliberate on intellectual traditions, current practices, and important directions for the future. In response, junior and mid-career scholars reflect on each chapter with thoughtful and measured moves forward into the contemporary environment of research, teaching, and service. Each of the prestigious chapter authors in the volume has three traits in common: a sense of responsibility for advancing the profession, a passion for programs of research dedicated to advancing opportunities for others, and a reflective sense of their work accompanied by humility for their contributions. As a documentary, Talking Back is the first history of writing studies in autobiography.
Contributors: Jo Allen, Ann N. Amicucci, Akua Duku Anokye, Paige Davis Arrington, Doug Baldwin, John C. Brereton, Judy Buchanan, Hugh Burns, Leasa Burton, Ellen C. Carillo, William Condon, Dylan B. Dryer, Michelle F. Eble, Jennifer Enoch, Joan Feinberg, Patricia Friedrich, Cinthia Gannett, Eli Goldblatt, Shenika Hankerson, Janis Haswell, Richard Haswell, Eric Heltzel, Douglas Hesse, Bruce Horner, Alice S. Horning, Asao B. Inoue, Ruth Ray Karpen, Suzanne Lane, Min-Zhan Lu, Donald McQuade, Elisabeth L. Miller, Rebecca Williams Mlynarczyk, Sean Molloy, Les Perelman, Louise Wetherbee Phelps, Stacey Pigg, Sherry Rankins-Robertson, Jessica Restaino, J. Michael Rifenburg, Eliana Schonberg, Geneva Smitherman, Richard Sterling, Katherine E. Tirabassi, Devon Tomasulo, Martha A. Townsend, Mike Truong, Victor Villanueva, Edward M. White, Anne Elrod Whitney, Kathleen Blake Yancey
