<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">We’re excited to announce the </span><a href="https://attw.org/cfp-2024/" style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" target="_blank">CFP</a><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"> for
the #attw2024 conference! The theme is "Building Community and
Coalitions through Liberatory Pedagogies in Technical Communication".
Submit your proposal by March 18, 2024!</span><div style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px"><span style="box-sizing:inherit;font-weight:700">Building Community and Coalitions through Liberatory Pedagogies in Technical Communication</span></p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">The ATTW 2024 conference will take place virtually on June 10-12, 2024.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">As
an organization committed to social justice, at a time when Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and anti-racist efforts are under attack via
book bans, anti-critical race theory bills, and through the defunding
of public education, ATTW recognizes the impact of <span style="box-sizing:inherit;font-weight:700">liberatory pedagogical practices</span> that centralize <span style="box-sizing:inherit;font-weight:700">community and coalitions</span>.
These concepts, if they are to be realized, require work from all of
our community members. In particular, liberatory pedagogical practice
asks community members to rethink, re-envision, and reimagine our roles
as educators and scholars. This means interrogating our curricula and
reflexively considering how our shared values show up in our programs,
as well as acknowledging and addressing the relationality of our work.
bell hooks (1994) pushes us to transgress and resist neoliberal,
capitalist ideals of education and instead make liberation a collective
educational goal. Further, building strong communities and coalitions
requires community members to understand the sociopolitical nature of
our work and seek ways to redress injustices and inequities through
advocacy, accountability, and action. All of these factors are important
in technical communication classrooms, where we can shape the future of
the field through community and coalition with our students,
collaborators, and programs. As hooks (1994) reminds us, the classroom
is always, already a communal space (p. 8).</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">With
these ideals in mind, for this year’s conference, we invite technical
communication teachers, scholars, students, researchers, and
practitioners to deeply engage with hooks’ (1994) conceptualizations of
transgressive teaching, engaged pedagogy, and education as a liberatory
practice, as outlined in Teaching to Transgress: Education as the
Practice of Freedom. We draw together these concepts and interrogate our
justice-oriented approaches to pedagogies and our commitments to
community and collective action. hooks (1994) asserts that community is
an act of resistance, and collective resistance has led to community
building in technical communication studies. Moreover, Walton, Moore,
and Jones (2019) evidence that technical communicators have the agency
and skill to innovate forms of community building and coalitions that
can lead toward positive change.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">Our
organization and conference embraced innovation in 2020 and remains
online to acknowledge ongoing pandemics, increase accessibility across
our field, and reduce environmental, public health, and financial
impacts of location-based academic meetings. However, we aim to continue
innovating ways to connect and build the community and coalitions
essential to the future of our field. Centralizing accessibility for the
most vulnerable members of our communities and acknowledging the
importance of strong coalitions for those at the margins, we seek ways
to connect with our students and develop strategies for grasping
injustice “at the root” (Davis, 2016). As such, we return to the root
and origin purpose of our association–community and teaching–and we ask:</p><ul style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;padding:0px;list-style-position:initial;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px"><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">How
can we create and sustain community in our technical and professional
communication undergraduate and graduate programs and curricula?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">How
can we better support our undergraduate and graduate
students–especially those who are marginalized and multiply
marginalized–as they enter into our programs, classes, and academic
organizations?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">In
what ways can we center liberatory education as we reimagine our
curricula and provide opportunities for students in undergraduate,
graduate, and certificate programs?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">What are models of mentorship that centralize care, accountability, and liberation–and what do those look like in practice?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">How
do we identify, define, and develop educational opportunities that are
liberatory and/or transgressive in nature? How can we transform pedagogy
approaches in technical and professional communication?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">What
have we learned about DEI and anti-racist initiatives in our field, and
how can we protect and support these initiatives in relation to our
research, service, and pedagogy?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">How do we remain connected both to our students, our communities, and to the needs of technical communication industries?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">How
do we develop technical and professional communication pedagogies and
mentoring practices that connect our communities through effective
design, user experiences, writing, and collaboration?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">What do community and connection mean in contemporary technical and professional communication contexts?</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">How can we build coalitions with and among our students?</li></ul><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">For
the 2024 ATTW Virtual Conference, we welcome innovative assignments,
frameworks, and concepts that illustrate how technical communication
pedagogies can be liberatory in nature and foster community and
coalitions in contemporary contexts. To encourage dialogue and mentoring
for and alongside graduate student presenters, we invite proposals for
6-8-minute “lightning talks” that focus on a technical and professional
communication assignment, concept, or framework.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">Your brief proposal (approximately 350 words) should:</p><ul style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;padding:0px;list-style-position:initial;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px"><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">1) state the assignment, concept, or framework that you will introduce;</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">2) explain why that assignment, concept, or framework is relevant to the technical communication community; and</li><li style="margin-left:15px;box-sizing:inherit">3) list 3-4 takeaways that the audience may learn from your presentation.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">We
strongly encourage collaborative proposals and will give priority to
proposals that include students, contingent faculty, and community or
industry partners</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px"><span style="box-sizing:inherit;font-weight:700">Please submit your proposals via email to <a href="mailto:attwcon@gmail.com" target="_blank">attwcon@gmail.com</a> by March 18, 2024. Acceptances will be sent out by the end of April.</span></p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">Please direct your inquiries to conference co-chairs Josie Walwema, Natasha Jones, and Laura Gonzales (<a href="mailto:attwcon@gmail.com" target="_blank">attwcon@gmail.com</a>).</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px"><span style="box-sizing:inherit;font-weight:700">References</span></p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">Davis, A. Y. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Haymarket Books.</p><p style="box-sizing:inherit;margin:0px 0px 1.75em;color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge.</p><div style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:Merriweather,Georgia,serif;font-size:16px">Walton,
R., Moore, K. R. & Jones, N. N. (2019). Technical communication
after the social justice turn: Building coalitions for action.
Routledge.</span><div></div><div> </div></div>
</div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">--<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Lisa Dusenberry, Ph.D. | she/her/hers<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><span class="gmail_default">ATTW Communications Team<div class="gmail-yj6qo"></div><div class="gmail-adL"><br></div></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>