Examining two particular texts and applying modifications of Western feminist concepts, the author argues that early twentieth-century Chinese women's writing contains feminist thoughts and textual strategies far more complex and nuanced than conventional wisdom has led one to expect. (Contains 6 notes.)

Undergraduate literature courses tend to neglect American fiction of the 1930s, especially the proletarian novel. Disregard of this particular genre is often based on the assumption that it emphasized a crude Marxist realism opposed to aesthetic modernism. Various examples of the genre are, in fact, worth teaching, especially because they do not…

Offers an understanding of "class activism" that focuses less on the putative emotional needs of working-class students, of whatever ethnicity or gender, and more on the ways hierarchy and distinction are reproduced within and outside of the various institutions of higher education. Suggests that it is possible and even desirable for most people…

Examines two novels by Sid Chaplin about the life of working-class youth in England--"The Day of the Sardine" and "The Watchers and the Watched." (MM)

Establishes that there are different ways of conceiving of time and that they are class-based. Illustrates in part the history of one working-class student struggling to make sense of middle-class affiliations with academic discourse and middle-class understandings of time. Proposes that writing teachers make more explicit the ways that narrative…

An attempt is made to opine on the vexation of class. Nick Tingle admired the article "Inventing the University" and found it vexing and used his vexation with inventing as a catalyst for rumination on his social trajectory, which is intimately related to his passage from the working to the middle class.

Believes that a historiographic inquiry into Meridel Le Sueur's work as a teacher of writing can extend conversations about textual property that are taking place in English studies today. Concludes that "Worker Writers" stands as Le Sueur's call to working-class women and men to strengthen their communal ties, to make their lives more visible…

The instrumentalist motives of the working-class students are reconsidered. The local situations of these students suggest that we cannot assume what these students motives for instrumentalist behaviors might be, for instance some might emphasize the role of their families in shaping work values while others might emphasize peers and neighborhood…

Investigates how social class affects the educational narratives of working-class students--both their initial access to four-year institutions and their ability to persevere until they obtain bachelor's degrees. Argues that a genuine concern with diversity should lead compositionists to question the selective functions of the academy and the role…

Drawing on students' literacy autobiographies, this article critiques the premise that academic discourse and working-class identity are not only static but also in complete opposition. The author argues for a more performative theory of class, a theory that would, she explains, recognize that academic discourse creates social class distinctions…

Discusses how both novels share key thematic elements pertaining to the experiences of migrants from rural Appalachia to multiethnic industrial centers of the urban north. Notes that a focus on the authors' handling of material culture helps to point one with increased clarity and precision to the writerly method by which Attaway and Arnow convey…

Describes a program for adults in which they read about working class people like themselves and then respond in writing. Argues that while they became initiated into the academic community, they also felt powerless to change their situations. Emphasizes the importance of not destroying students' histories while teaching them academic discourse.…