Week 7 Blogs

Jerome McGann

In this article, Jerome McGann attempts to outline the field and process of interpretation. He begins with an analysis of a Weil quote, and then gives a brief introduction to performative interpretation. McGann concludes his inquiry with Della Volde. In the process, he outlines contemporary theory and structure of the process of interpretation in order to establish interpretation as ‘a game that must be lost.’ McGann is likely trying to reach a scholarly audience comprised of fellow researchers that are familiar with (or frustrated by) interpretations.

I would argue that this article was unworthy as it pertains to this class and relative to the other articles that we have looked at. Not that I am a fan of long, boring, analyses, but I thought that there could have been more information. I don’t know much about the field of interpretation and would have found a little more emphasis on theory and practice to be beneficial. Fortunately, much of what he said mirrored the translation piece so there was little confusion. It is ironic- in essence, I wanted him to justify interpretation as a legitimate field and outline its underpinnings which is exactly what we discussed hated having to do as contributing members in this field of English Studies.

Yuet-Sim D. Chiang

In her article, Yuet-Sim D. Chiang argues for a critical inquiry that not only addresses identity constructs, but also embraces their centeredness, including their intersubjectivities in composition research and practice (151). She walks her reader through her own experiences as researcher, other, insider, outsider, and professor. She examines each of these roles in order to “put the ‘human voice and face’ back into composition theories that have become increasingly highfalutin and removed from our daily realities” (163). She develops an intentionally personal relationship with her audience in order to reaffirm her belief that the center, while important as a separate entity, is equally important as part of the whole.

I found this article to be significantly advantageous for my training as a researcher, but also practically advantageous for my job. I was involved in a discussion at work today about my desire to begin implementing support systems for LGBT students at the middle school level. This is a groundbreaking and highly volatile topic everywhere, but when you throw children and the upper echelons of administration in SAN BERNARDINO in to the mix, it is down right chaos. I found myself having to consider my role as a member of the LGBT community and devise a combat plan to defend my role and my intentions in this process of building supports that are long overdue. Similar to Chiang’s description of the empathy and community that she felt with her students and her research participants, I too look into the faces of these lost little awkward people that have all of these things inside of them that they don’t know how to compartmentalize, and see myself. The only difference is that I was going through that at twenty, and they are going through it at twelve. I think that it is a beautiful thing- but that doesn’t matter because it is reality, and therefore, it is a conversation that desperately needs to be had. While the article gave me a great frame of reference and some important factors to consider, I am not sure that SBCUSD is ready for a gay woman to use her position to push a gay agenda- whether or not the two are even related.