Description
Book SynopsisAs the recent pandemic illustrated, many folks are only one or two paychecks away from bankruptcy. The economic disparities made starkly clear in the wake of shutdowns have brought home the need for thinking critically about class in ways that many U.S. citizens have traditionally resisted. This collection of memoirs and cultural analyses by established and newer scholars from a variety of disciplines seeks to reintroduce class in sophisticated, yet accessible, ways so that students may increase their critical literacy and consider the power of rhetoric to fight for equitable distribution of income and class power. Contributors are: : Sarah Attfield, Jennifer Beech, Phil Bratta, Ryan Cooper Carl, Christina V. Cedillo, José M. Cortez, William DeGenaro, David Engen, Kelli R. Gill, Abby Graves, Matthew Wayne Guy, Katherine Highfill, Nancy Mack, Heather Palmer, Irvin Peckham, Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier, Philip L. Simpson, William Thelin and Edward J. Whitelock.
Table of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction: Defining and Defying Common (Mis)Understandings of the Working Class Jennifer Beech and Matthew Wayne Guy PART 1: Memoirs and Personal Essays 1 Social Class and Sociolects Irvin Peckham 2 Becoming “Gente Educada”: Navigating Academia as a Working-Class, Multiply-Marginalized Student Christina V. Cedillo 3 Rhetoric: From a Community Yet to Arrive José Manuel Cortez 4 Five Miles and a World Away: A Memoir Edward J. Whitelock 5 Feeling Like an Imposter at College Nancy Mack 6 (Un)Belonging in Liminality: Garage Stories Phil Bratta 7 Book Smart AND Street Smart Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier 8 “Remember the Spartans” William Thelin 9 Honest Work Katherine Highfill PART 2: Critical Essays 10 Bodies in the World of Labor: Class, Affect, and Rhetoric in IWW’s “What is What in the World of Labor?” Poster Phil Bratta 11 Mind on Heaven: Working-Class Rhetorics in Serpent-Handling Rituals of Southern Appalachia Heather Palmer 12 White Bread as a Working-Class Symbol Kelli R. Gill 13 “Put Some Flowers in the Graveyard”: The Gloomy Fate of the Working Class in George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead Philip L. Simpson 14 Working Class on the Small Screen Sarah Attfield 15 #ActorsWithDayJobs: Geoffrey Owens, Job Shaming, and the Ideology of Work William DeGenaro 16 (Literal) Self-Exposure: Celebrity “Activism” during Covid-19 Abby Graves 17 Returning to Van Buren Street: A Photographic Essay David Engen Index
