Composition as assemblage

Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s essay was really intriguing; writing as assemblage? This is a great rethinking of what writing is, and what it is we teach in composition classrooms. If we see writing as a technology, then Bijker’s (and Johnson-Eilola/Selber’s) comments about technology as a social construct (not the product of a solitary genius) really complicates our view of composition. Composition, in this sense, is more or less a construction of patterns (i.e. language, visual elements, etc) into a cohesive whole.

The view of writing as assemblage takes into account all aspects of what it means to write, to compose. Example:

Poet H.L. Hix’s text, God Bless: A Political/Poetic Discourse, uses quotes from George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden in each poem to discuss culture, politics, etc in a strange dialogic fashion. The quotes, obviously not from his “solitary, creative genius,” were nevertheless composed in a way that is “original.” He did not use intext citations, nor did he use quotation marks. He makes it clear that the poems are constructed with the words of Bush and bin Laden, but it is often unclear whose voice is saying what in the poems (which make them all the more interesting). Thus, Hix has gone beyond being a traditional writer, he has become a composer: a designer.

From this point of view, the writer/composer must carefully understand the design and construction of each quote. This new context for the assembled elements is part of the composing process:

“We want to change the goal of writing from performance to action or effect in context. That is, we want to lend some weight to a movement that shifts the terrain of the assignment by shifting our approach to writing instruction and assessment: What if the “final” product a student produces—a text—is not concerned with original words or images on a page or screen but concerned primarily with assemblages of parts?” (J-E & S, p. 380).

This view of writing is one that allows the student to focus on composition as a whole (i.e. the design, the construction of the parts, placement of parts, etc) rather than proper citation and other things that do not necessarily affect the meaning of the text. I do think we should teach proper citation and attribution; the thing to be conscious of is to teach these rules in context. When should citation be included in a text? What form does the citation take in this context?Why do we use citations? All of these choices should have a rhetorical purpose, as should assemblage.

Another great example of the creativity, “originality”, and composition is the scrapbook: While that scrapbook craze a few years back was a bit scary, a scrapbook is a great example of a personal story using multiple modes of expression. Jessica Helfand’s new book, Scrapbooks: An American History, is not only fun to read, but a great example of the ways people express themselves through assemblage.

As Helfand articulates on the Daily Scrapbook blog:

"Highly subjective, rich in emotional meaning, the scrapbook is a unique and often quirky form of expression in which a person gathers and arranges meaningful materials to create a personal narrative."  

Isn't this what we want from our student writers?