601: Exploring the Intersections of Language, Community, and Power in This Year’s Writer as Witness Text

Session Location: Mary Graydon Student Center (MGSC) 128

Date: Thursday, August 14

Time: 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM

Presenters: Krisztina Domjan (Senior Professorial Lecturer, CAS | Literature – English Language Training Academy), Jermaine Jones (Professorial Lecturer, Writing Studies Program, CAS | Literature), Kelly Joyner (Director, Writing Studies Program, CAS | Literature), Kimberly Ross (Professorial Lecturer, Writing Studies Program, CAS | Literature) & Adam Tamashasky (Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer, Writing Studies Program, CAS | Literature)

Session Description:

Share, discuss, and create ways to engage this year’s Writer as Witness text—Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell—in your class. We’ll highlight many of the ideas Montell presents, including, but not limited to, the ways cult and “cultish” leaders use language as the primary tool of control to build community and to maintain power by creating realities for their followers. Participants will collaborate on class activity development and learn from faculty across academic contexts.