Salt of the Earth

James Chase Sanchez

Description

Salt of the Earth is an autoethnography and cultural rhetorics case study that examines white supremacy in the author’s hometown of Grand Saline, Texas, a community long marred by its racist culture. 

James Chase Sanchez investigates the rhetoric of white supremacy by exploring three unique rhetorical processes―identity construction, storytelling, and silencing―as they relate to an umbrella act: the rhetoric of preservation. 

Sanchez argues that we need to better understand the productions of white supremacy as a complex rhetorical act and that in order to create a more well-rounded view of cultural rhetorics as a subfield, we need more analyses of the way cultures of the oppressor survive and thrive. 

About the CCCC Studies in Writing & Rhetoric (SWR) Series:
In this series, the methods of studies vary from the critical to historical to linguistic to ethnographic, and their authors draw on work in various fields that inform composition—including rhetoric, communication, education, discourse analysis, psychology, cultural studies, and literature. Their focuses are similarly diverse—ranging from individual writers and teachers, to classrooms and communities and curricula, to analyses of the social, political, and material contexts of writing and its teaching.

Sujets

• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Subjects
• Teaching
• EDUCATION
• Charles R. Moore
• Poletown East, Detroit
• Subject
• Rhetoric
• Anthropology
• Man on Fire
• Discrimination

Informations

• Publié par: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
• Date de parution: 18 août 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780814100097
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

CCCC STUDIES IN WRITING & RHETORIC
Edited by Steve Parks, University of Virginia
                   
The aim of the CCCC Studies in Writing & Rhetoric (SWR) Series is to influence how we think about language in action and especially how writing gets taught at the college level. The methods of studies vary from the critical to historical to linguistic to ethnographic, and their authors draw on work in various fields that inform composition—including rhetoric, communication, education, discourse analysis, psychology, cultural studies, and literature. Their focuses are similarly diverse—ranging from individual writers and teachers, to work on classrooms and communities and curricula, to analyses of the social, political, and material contexts of writing and its teaching.
SWR was one of the first scholarly book series to focus on the teaching of writing. It was established in 1980 by the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) in order to promote research in the emerging field of writing studies. As our field has grown, the research sponsored by SWR has continued to articulate the commitment of CCCC to supporting the work of writing teachers as reflective practitioners and intellectuals.
We are eager to identify influential work in writing and rhetoric as it emerges. We thus ask authors to send us project proposals that clearly situate their work in the field and show how they aim to redirect our ongoing conversations about writing and its teaching. Proposals should include an overview of the project, a brief annotated table of contents, and a sample chapter. They should not exceed 10,000 words.
To submit a proposal, please register as an author at www.editorialmanager.com/nctebp . Once registered, follow the steps to submit a proposal (be sure to choose SWR Book Proposal from the drop-down list of article submission types).
SWR Editorial Advisory Board
Steve Parks, SWR Editor, University of Virginia
Chanon Adsanatham, Thammasat University
Sweta Baniya, Virginia Tech
Kevin Browne, University of the West Indies
Shannon Gibney, Minneapolis Community and Technical College
Laura Gonzales, University of Texas-El Paso
Haivan Hoang, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Carmen Kynard, Texas Christian University
Staci M. Perryman-Clark, Western Michigan University
Eric Pritchard, University at Buffalo
Tiffany Rousculp, Salt Lake Community College
Khirsten Scott, University of Pittsburgh
Kate Vieira, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bo Wang, California State University

Staff Editor: Bonny Graham
Manuscript Editor: Leigh Scarcliff
Series Editor: Steve Parks
Interior Design: Mary Rohrer
Cover Design: Pat Mayer
Cover Photo: James Chase Sanchez
NCTE Stock Number: 42233; eStock Number: 42240
ISBN 978-0-8141-4223-3; eISBN 978-0-8141-4224-0
Copyright © 2021 by the Conference on College Composition and Communication of the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
NCTE provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all staff members and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical, mental or perceived handicap/disability, sexual orientation including gender identity or expression, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, pregnancy, citizenship status, personal appearance, matriculation or political affiliation, or any other protected status under applicable federal, state, and local laws.
Every effort has been made to provide current URLs and email addresses, but because of the rapidly changing nature of the web, some sites and addresses may no longer be accessible.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sanchez, James Chase, author.
Title: Salt of the earth : rhetoric, preservation, and white supremacy / James Chase Sanchez, Middlebury College.
Description: Champaign, Illinois : Conference on College Composition and Communication of the National Council of Teachers of English, [2021] | Series: Studies in Writing & Rhetoric | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “This auto-ethnography and cultural rhetorics case study investigates the rhetoric of white supremacy by exploring three unique rhetorical processes—identity construction, storytelling, and silencing—as they relate to an umbrella act: the rhetoric of preservation”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021014580 (print) | LCCN 2021014581 (ebook) | ISBN 9780814142233 (Trade Paperback) | ISBN 9780814142240 (Adobe PDF)
Subjects: LCSH: Grand Saline (Tex.)—Race relations. | White supremacy movements— Texas—Grand Saline. | Rhetoric—Social aspects. | Narrative inquiry (Research method)
Classification: LCC F394.G736 S26 2021 (print) | LCC F394.G736 (ebook) | DDC 305.8009764/276-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/20210l4580
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/20210l4581
This book is dedicated to Charles Moore. Though we never met, our stories are intertwined. May you rest in peace.
Also, to my grandfather, David Smith: My entire life I have always strived to make you proud. This book is a reflection of your love.
CONTENTS
Foreword
     Emily Erwin
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1.    Whoosh
2.   The In-Between
3.   The Truth about Stories
4.   Where There's Smoke
5.   “But Once Was Enough”
6.   Silenced
7.   Salty
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Author
FOREWORD
MY RELATIONSHIP WITH MY Grand Saline roots is nothing if not complicated.
Being a small-town girl is an important part of my identity. I was raised to value simplicity over superficiality personal relationships over possessions, and faith over fear.
Many of the values I developed growing up in Grand Saline have continued to serve me throughout my life. Although I chose to leave my hometown at the first opportunity and occasionally wandered away from those original ideas, I've always come back to the foundation it provided me. And I take pride in that. As an adult, I've lived in larger cities—being exposed to levels of financial privilege I'd only previously seen on TV. It was the kind of flash and frivolity I'd been warned about growing up in Grand Saline. I can't say I always rose above and remembered what was important; however, I'd eventually return to what I knew to be real and lasting—family, friendship, love, compassion, and kindness. Being a nice girl who returns her cart after grocery shopping, holds the door for strangers, and always says “please” and “thank you” is who I am. It's who I am because of how I was raised, because of Grand Saline, in so many ways. For that, I'm grateful.
Unfortunately, articulating my relationship with Grand Saline doesn't end with good, honest small-town values. As an adult I've come to realize that the ways in which I felt held and cared for by my hometown were very much conditional. I won't go so far as to say that the folks in my hometown only loved me because I was a white evangelical in good standing; however, I believe that if I hadn't been both of those things, my experience would've been quite different. I now know and understand that I was loved not exclusively for who I was, but also because I was really great at following the rules and doing what was expected of me.
It's easy to say that Grand Saline and other towns like it have a racism problem without further explanation. And that's probably not unfair. I won't dance around the fact that the racism that continues to exist in Grand Saline is indefensible. End of story. However, I do believe understanding its roots is important when we consider how we can reach a resolution. Something I always come back to (and is likely recognizable in this book and in the documentary Man on Fire) is the lack of awareness that permeates the community. It's easy it's convenient, it requires no uncomfortable introspection.
Small-town culture often involves sweeping unsightly dust under the rug, rather than acknowledging its presence and taking the necessary steps to remove it. Not looking at it and denying its existence is a defense mechanism a lot of us developed, believing denial was resilience. Examining mistakes and what led us to make them wasn't our practice. We left the past in the past and preferred never to speak of it again.
In the 1990s, Grand Saline's racism was so notable that it was reported on CBS, in a news program called Eye on America with Connie Chung. We'd quite literally become infamous for having no Black people in our town. I remember the days leading up to the news crew's arrival. It didn't seem that much credence was being given to the story Chung and her team were telling. In fact, it was kind of a joke—elitist rich people making judgments without merit. The overeducated coming to town with the sole purpose of criticizing our culture and way of life. I think I was ten or eleven at the time and I recall being quite confused. Wasn't Connie Chung a reputable and respected reporter? How could CBS be so far off the mark? And if they were in fact telling lies about my community what was the payoff? What could they possibly gain in spreading falsehoods about a town so small it only had one stoplight?
This confusion only served to poin