If there is a single idea that underlies what Peter Elbow recently called the "culture of composition," it is the turn in our field towards the social. And just as the process movement defined itself against the practices of writing courses based upon literature, socio-epistemic pedagogies and theories have distinguished themselves from what James Zebroski has described as the "expressivist menace," a caricature of much of the early work done in composition. For better or worse, our maps of the discipline encourage us to think that, if we "agree" to the social, we must dismiss the alternatives.

And yet, there is a growing tendency in our scholarship to re-examine the sites that we have "left behind" with the turn to the social; to rethink the relationship between the personal or individual and the social; and/or to consider new sites where the social has not exhausted itself. Are we seeing the beginnings of a return to the expressive in our field? Whether or not we can identify this diverse body of scholarship as a "movement," the fact remains that there is significant research and writing occurring that critiques, complicates, and/or eludes the socio-epistemic. Enculturation: A Journal for Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture is soliciting projects that engage in this research. We will be publishing a special topic issue devoted to the theme "Neo-Expressivisms," tentatively scheduled for publication in the Fall of 2004.

We are interested in innovative scholarship that addresses, engages, and/or represents one or more of several recent trends in writing studies, each of which (rightly or wrongly) might signify a return to expressivism. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

Textual Expression

• creative non-fiction
• the personal essay
• social expressivism(s)

• the renewed interest in style both in print and on screen
• the possibilities of new media expression
• theories of visual, graphic, and/or multimedia design

• rhetorics of embodiment
• the role of affect in writing
• new theories of expression

Although this is a "special topic" issue, it is not themed in the sense of advocating a particular perspective with respect to any of these topics. In other words, we do not expect submissions to take up the question of a return to expressivisms, although they are not precluded from doing so. Nor does the list above exhaust possible approaches. We would be interested in reviews of both new and/or canonical work in these areas, be they books, edited collections, or special issues of journals. We anticipate considering work ranging from the theoretical to the pedagogical to the performative, and even the extra-disciplinary. We are particularly interested in shorter essays (10-15 pages), clustered essays, and/or work targeted specifically for an online environment.

Submission Process

The deadline for submitting essays for consideration in this special issue is May 31, 2004. Once received, manuscripts will be blind-reviewed by 2-3 members of the Editorial Board, as per our standard review process.

We are also willing to look at 1-2 page abstracts, written in anticipation of the longer project, for the purposes of an initial editorial review and feedback. Abstracts should be submitted no later than April 1, 2004.

All submissions should be emailed to the guest editor for this issue, Collin Gifford Brooke (cbrooke@syr.edu), and may be copied into the message or attached as an .rtf file, unless they require an alternative format (e.g., multimedia files).

Email queries about this process, or about the scope of the issue, are welcome, and may be directed to Collin Gifford Brooke (cbrooke@syr.edu).