Identity Matters: Rhetorics of Difference

Showing the interconnections between such issues as race, class, gender, nationalism, and ability, this multicultural reader introduces basic rhetorical strategies for analyzing the complex variables which define identity in the postmodern world. Focusing on process writing, writing to learn, and critical consciousness raising, it brings together some of today's most respected theorists, with selections ranging from 'high brow' essays in popular magazines to fiction and 'creative' writing from counter-culture sources. Demonstrates the variety of rhetorical approaches writers might use in order to interrogate their own identities through writing. Features cross-chapter and issue connections throughout, leading to better critical thinking about topics that too often yield sterotypes. Suggests deeper topics designed to lead to formal academic research papers and gives readers basic guidelines to format and document their essays. For educators, sociologists, and psychologists focusing on identity formation, cultural pluralism, or multiculturalism.