Traversing the Democratic Borders of the Essay

Cristina Kirklighter is Assistant Professor of English at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. She is the coeditor of Voices and Visions: Refiguring Ethnography in Composition.

"Students and scholars at all points on the theoretical spectrum will find this a stimulating read." — CHOICE"A rare and engaging book. Kirklighter speaks eloquently and persuasively, from the vantage points of tradition and personal experience, of the essay's power as a more democratic, more accessible, and more inclusive form of scholarly communication." — Xin Liu Gale, author of Teachers, Discourses, and Authority in the Postmodern Composition Classroom"Written in a clear and accessible style, this book will be of great interest to critics and scholars working in the field of critical literacy and pedagogy, as well as those in the fields of Latino/a and Inter-American Studies." — Santiago Juan-Navarro, author of Archival Reflections: Postmodern Fiction of the Americas (Self-Reflexivity, Historical Revisionism, Utopia)

• ForewordGail Y. Okawa Acknowledgments 1. Introduction The Personal, the Political, and the Rhetorical: Montaigne's and Bacon's Use of the Essay Form Essaying an American Democratic Identity in Emerson and Thoreau The Essay as Political/Cultural Critique in Latin America Achieving a Place in Academia through the Personal Academic Essays of Victor Villanueva and Ruth Behar 2. The Personal, the Political, and the Rhetorical: Montaigne and Bacon's Use of the Essay Form Brief Biography of Michel de Montaigne Montaigne's Departure from Traditional Rhetorical Writing Francis Bacon and the Essay 3. Essaying an American Democratic Identity in Emerson and Thoreau Ralph Waldo Emerson Biographical Background Montaigne, Plutarch, Emerson, and the Essay The Essay, Education, and the Formation of a U.S. National Identity Emerson and "The American Scholar" Henry David Thoreau Historical and Political Background of Walden Early Book Reviews of Walden and Its Significance to the Essay 4. The Essay as Political/Cultural Critique in Latin America Freire's Place in Latin American History Freire's Social Pedagogy and Its Tie to the Elements of the Essay Freire's Pedagogical Ties to Self-Reflection in the Essay Accessible Writing and the Freirian Essay Freire and the Issue of Spontaneity The Essay's Elements of Sincerity and Truthfulness in Freire's Writings 5. Achieving a Place in Academia through the Personal Academic Essays of Victor Villanueva and Ruth Behar Conversations with Victor Villanueva on Bootstraps and His Influence in Rhetoric and Composition Villanueva's Use of Self-Reflection and Accessibility in Bootstraps The Movement from Mimicry to Spontaneity in Villanueva's Academic Writings Sincerity and Acceptance in Villanueva's Scholarship Ruth Behar and Her Rise to Academic Prominence Behar's Use of Self-Reflexivity and Accessibility to Reconcile Her Ethnographic Identity in Academia Spontaneity and the Essay: Behar's Growing Resistance to Becoming a Translated Academic Behar's Use of Sincere Writing to Uncover Her Truth as an Ethnographer 6. Conclusion Works Cited Index