A Critique of Anti-racism in Rhetoric and Composition

The Semblance of Empowerment

Erec Smith

A Critique of Anti-racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment critiques current antiracist ideology in rhetoric and composition, arguing that it inadvertently promotes a deficit-model of empowerment for both students and scholars. Erec Smith claims that empowerment theory—which promotes individual, communal, and strategic efficacy—is missing from most antiracist initiatives, which instead often abide by what Smith refers to as a "primacy of identity”: an over-reliance on identity, particularly a victimized identity, to establish ethos. Scholars of rhetoric, composition, communication, and critical race theory will find this book particularly useful.

Lexington Books

Pages: 186 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-9040-2 • Hardback • December 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4985-9042-6 • Paperback • March 2021 • $44.99 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Rhetoric, Social Science / Minority Studies

A Critique of Anti-racism in Rhetoric and Composition

The Semblance of Empowerment

Hardback

Paperback

Summary

A Critique of Anti-racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment critiques current antiracist ideology in rhetoric and composition, arguing that it inadvertently promotes a deficit-model of empowerment for both students and scholars. Erec Smith claims that empowerment theory—which promotes individual, communal, and strategic efficacy—is missing from most antiracist initiatives, which instead often abide by what Smith refers to as a "primacy of identity”: an over-reliance on identity, particularly a victimized identity, to establish ethos. Scholars of rhetoric, composition, communication, and critical race theory will find this book particularly useful.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 186 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-4985-9040-2 • Hardback • December 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4985-9042-6 • Paperback • March 2021 • $44.99 • (£35.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Rhetoric, Social Science / Minority Studies

Author

Erec Smith is associate professor of rhetoric and composition at York College of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Something “More Than a Negro”

Chapter 1: The Primacy of Identity: Prefiguration, The Sacred Victim, and the Semblance of Empowerment

Chapter 2: So What is Empowerment?

Chapter 3: Disempowerment and Code-meshing Pedagogy

Chapter 4: The “Soft Bigotry” of Antiracist Pedagogy: Victims, Tricksters, and Protectors

Conclusion: Getting Over Ourselves and Centering Empowerment

Epilogue: Am I Overreacting?