Sophie R. Bell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Institute for Writing Studies
St. Augustine Hall Writing Center, Room 163
bells@stjohns.edu
Educational Background
Ph.D. in English, Tufts University, 2008
M.Ed. in Teaching English, Harvard University Graduate School of
Education, 1994
BA in History, Wesleyan University, 1991
Profile
I am interested in American education, culture, and literature,
both in nineteenth-century interracial contexts and in my current
teaching of first-year writing. I study cross-race alliances and
visions articulated in sentimental social arenas from books to
schools.
My doctoral dissertation, “Naughty Child: The Racial Politics of
Sentimental Discipline in Selected Antebellum Texts,” argues that
the image of a disobedient child of color -- one who refuses to
learn from the adults in power around her -- became a powerful
trope for racial reformers before the Civil War.
The scenes of these children’s refusal “to learn” white,
middle-class culture carry into my thinking about my work as a
21st-century educator. My current research looks at composition
classrooms as contested spaces where higher education’s promise of
greater cultural capital through command of language presumes the
price of the ticket will be students’ assimilation into the
language of power. I am very excited by current in composition and
cultural studies about the multiplicity of literacies that puts the
lie to this sacrifice, and my own research looks at student life
writing and autoethnography to counter this pressure to
assimilate.
My students spend a great deal of time writing, discussing each
other’s writing, and improving pieces of writing. While students
write in a range of modes – including personal narrative, textual
analysis, and research reflection – the slant of most assignments
is towards autoethnographic writing. Students describe, analyze,
and research the conditions and experiences of their lives, making
themselves subjects of academic – and many other –
discourses.
Service Work
I serve on the Institute for Writing Studies Critical
Friends Group committee. We promote structured collegial
conversation about our teaching to improve our practice.
I serve on the School Leadership Team at my daughter’s elementary
school, P.S. 146: The Brooklyn New School, helping set priorities
and the school’s goals and challenges.
Professional
Community I am currently a
Fellow at St. John’s Center for Teaching and Learning, where I
participate in a cohort of faculty on projects to significantly
integrate new technology into our teaching. I am the former
president and a current member of the New York Metropolitan Area
American Studies Association. We organize an annual conference,
author book talks, reading and writing groups, and other venues for
collegial conversation and fellowship among local American Studies
scholars.
I am a member of the Radical Teacher editorial collective. Founded
in 1975, Radical Teacher is a socialist, feminist, and anti-racist
journal dedicated to the theory and practice of teaching. I have
co-edited issues of Radical Teacher focusing on race and difference
in the classroom, and social justice in teacher education.