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September 22, 2005
research, writing, and diversity?
In trying to find journals that reflect Latino/a rhetoric, what I found is that there are none! There were 2, but they are no longer in circulation. My reaction resembled the grief process; first I was angry, then sad..ultimately accepting the event that invoked my sorrow that I nonetheless cannot change. Then I started thinking about why. Why is there no journal that can enrich my scholarship and help me acquire the knowledge I crave? Why can't I walk into the library, search for *keyword* Latino/a journals and books, and get 50+ hits? I was asking Colin about this and he told me that it is not only a question of interest among scholars, but also a budget issue. Whose budget? The journal's budget; the library's budget; the fact that if the scholars that submit work to this journal are not employed by the university, chances are that said journal will be absent from that (university’s) library's catalog. Okay. Now what? Well, in discussing what I want to be when I grow up with my friend (and fellow burgeoning scholar) Tamika, I realized that I want a journal to call my own. I want it! If composition and cultural rhetoric is meant to contribute to society and do service, then this is a service I want to perform. I want students like myself, Latino/a students, to be represented in the discourse of our discipline. I want the same students to be able to go to their university library and find at least one professional artifact that speaks to our identity and our contributions to the field of CCR. Now the question is how, exactly do I do that? I am confident that the day will come when I will find a way...just as I found a way to make as far as I have. But that's another story.
Posted by dvaldesd at September 22, 2005 10:25 AM