talking about it.

[Bonnie KYBURZ <KYBURZBO@UVSC.EDU>]

We are all vulnerable to powerful rhetorics at the moment. I had thought
that talking and/or writing about the attacks in class would be a bad
thing because of a potentially generalized tendency to go with the flow of
anti-muslim, pro-massive retaliation sentiments. Then again, I figured
that students might be talked out (I did not meet w/ classes on Tuesday
and assumed that they may already have been having discussions in various
classes since then).

However, when I asked students if they had been discussing the attacks in
other classes, they seemed disgusted that they had not. One teacher told
them that they were perfectly capable of "putting the world aside for an
hour." YIPES. Another showed a film on the history of Osama Bin Laden 
(ill-advised, IMO).

We talked. And I was amazed at how strong my students are in the face of
various questionable yet powerfully suggestive theories.

On the whole, I was curiously surprised about the sophisticated thinking
my students exhibited today. We just talked ,and, yes, they expressed some
serious concerns about terrorists from "the middle east" (few specified
any particular country or regime). But most were VERY cautious about
indicting anyone one or any group, and many questioned the speed w/which
"evidence" is being amassed. Some questioned the validity of the video
shown repeatedly of Palestinians dancing in the streets; they seemed to
think that not all the people were jubillant and that perhaps if they
were, we might see other similar video; some wondered what rhetorical
function the video serves in terms of American sentiment. Others made
connections to the film we'd recently seen (Twelve Anrgy Men), suggesting
that we may be guilty of reaching conclusions too rapidly and subsequently
scapegoating ( the more troubling issue for many students) anyone who
appears to be Muslim, Islamic, Arab, or any version of what we recognize
as "middle eastern." The discussion focused upon our tendency to want a
"target," and then Keyser Soze reared his mythical head (some mentioned
The Usual Suspects and urged me to show the film).

I agree with Tom that we should be talking, analyzing ideologies of power,
fear, and force. Still, I feel now very strongly that we should not
frontload these discussions in any way but simply invite students to talk.  
Whether or not they *recongize* that we are talking about ideologies of
power, fear, and force in ways that resonate with any sort of "lesson" is,
IMO, irrelevant. Do you have to know it's metadiscourse to benefit from
it?

I am also myself kind of freaked about the concept of intellectualizing
this in a classroom at this time. Still, my classes today felt important,
and they were for me somewhat healing (I have been internalizing fear like
never before).

peace,

Bonnie Lenore Kyburz, PhD
Assistant Professor of English=20
English & Literature Department
Utah Valley State College