Cultures of Writing:

Places, Spaces, and Interfaces of Writing and Writing Technologies

An investigation of technologies of writing -- the materiasls, practices, uses and significance of writing and writing instruction -- at diverse cultural sites. How, why, and with what material consequences are writing and writing technologies produced, distributed, and re-produced in multiple, but often interrelated, contexts? Critical reflection on what sustained investigation of this kind could mean for our teaching and teaching institutions. Specifically, what might the study of literacy and literacy instruction entail once we begin to consider sites of writing outside our classrooms and th academy and seriously entertain the notion of alternative literacies and technologies of writing? What might be the implication of the study of such technologies/cultures for the teaching of, and training in, English Studies? How might a sustained, integrated,and historical study of the material and cultural conditions of the production and dissemination of writing affect our professional and disciplinary histories; the design of our curricula and programs; the content and delivery of instruction; "working" relationships between composition/rhetoric, literary studies, cultural studies, professiona and "creative" writing programs.

An SCE conference was held in February 1997.