M. Amanda Moulder, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Institute for Writing Studies
moulderm@stjohns.edu
Ph.D. in English, University of Texas-Austin, 2010
M.A. in English, University of Texas-Austin, 2005
B.A. in English and American studies, Goucher College, Baltimore,
MD, 2000
My research is at the intersection of nonwestern rhetorical
history, cross-cultural communication, and writing pedagogy.
Specifically, I look at the ways in which past composition and
rhetoric pedagogies, especially those employed in nonwestern
communities, have affected and can inform contemporary classroom
practices. My historical scholarship looks at traditionally
excluded rhetorical and literacy traditions on their own cultural
and political terms, and also, examines the types of rhetoric and
literacy that result when distinct cultural traditions interact on
uneven ground, where one culture has greater political power than
the other. My current book project-in-progress, “They ought to mind
what a woman says”: Early Cherokee Women’s Rhetorical Traditions
and Rhetorical Education, builds on recent scholarship in
nonwestern rhetorics and uses the tools of literacy studies to
recover Cherokee women’s voices and theorize how they contribute to
a Cherokee rhetorical tradition.
Currently, I am looking at the implications of this historical
study for contemporary research in composition studies. This
research shows how the history of Cherokee women’s English-language
literacy acquisition is analogous to contemporary literacy pedagogy
debates. The questions of gender, class, and ethnicity that affect
definitions of “good” writing are as relevant today as they were in
this historical context. My goal here is to offer insight into how
we can create writing pedagogy practices that disrupt hierarchies
of power and privilege and avoid missionizing impulses that
perpetuate structural inequalities.