Fall 2018 Issue: Power, Access, Privilege

Fall 2018
Volume 25:1

Hosted by Penn State University

Power, Access, and Privilege

We asked the writers to ponder the complex negotiations of power and privilege that take place within Writing Centers and Writing Center tutorials. This included exploring power as a changing dynamic that creates or takes away opportunities in tutorials. Differences in power, access, or privilege may create obstacles while tutoring, or can prevent chances to engage in open and honest discussions between tutor and tutee.

How do power, access, and/or privilege shape the tutee/tutor relationship, and how did that influence the outcome of the tutorial? When thinking about privilege, we aim to uncover the advantages available to certain groups of people based on their (perceived or actual) background or identity. Everyone who works in or visits the writing center, tutees and tutors included, embodies a different kind of privilege or lack of privilege — our lives are intersectional — whether it is visible or invisible. Consider what an invisible privilege or disadvantage looks like: various financial, religious, political, and educational backgrounds can manifest themselves in tutorials. How do/can writing centers handle these differences? What types of obstacles arise, if any, due to differences in privilege?

Writing is an inherently personal craft, and aspects of our lives always bleed into our work. Tutors have the opportunity to see into the life and mind of their tutees, and vice versa — and these differences and exchanges all change tutorials in remarkable ways. The discussion of power and privilege opens the door to understanding and celebrating our differences within the medium of writing. We invite you to share your experiences.

Below are some questions we hoped for the writers to consider as they crafted your essays. We also hope for the readers to now consider them in their own light.

  • What does power/privilege look like in the writing center? How can we theorize the negotiations between writers and tutors?
  • What are the power dynamics that exist between tutor and tutee? What actionable, visible dynamics exist that shape sessions? What about invisible dynamics?
  • How do power and privilege work together in the writing center?
  • How is privilege visible or invisible in the writing center?
  • How are disadvantages visible or invisible in the writing center?
  • What can the tutee do to recognize and break down power and privilege in the writing center?

Contents

The Quiet Story: Re-centering Power in Personal Statement Tutoring Sessions
by Jenni Moody

Assisting Writing Center Clients: Easier Said Than Done?
by William Kallal

Fostering Student Identity Alongside Academic Standards
by Lauren Hammond

English Language Learners at the University of Illinois at Chicago Writing Center
by Susan Panek

Shifting Our Perspective: Disrupting Power Roles in the Writing Center
by Angelica Rodriguez & Ayla Hull

Breaking Through the Grecian Session: Observing the Power Shift in Unequal Proficiency ESL Sessions
by Kathryn Wetterstroem

The Writing Center’s Role in Civil Discourse
by Ammar Habib

Cautionary Citizen
by Logan Eidson

Power and Passing as a Native “Native” Speaker in the Writing CenterSetting the Stage for Students to Shine
by Lucien Darjeun Meadows

The Responsibility of Consultants to ESL Writers
by Liliana Benzel