In this article, University of Maryland writing program administrators Alexis Walston and Jessica Enoch explore the "Composition Studies" archive and its trove of articles from 1972 to the present with a focus on the emotive dimension of teaching and administration. As Walston and Enoch have worked to support a large community of…

The author reflects on receiving the entire archival history of "Composition Studies" upon becoming editor of the journal in 2013. This caused the realization that the growth of the field and the livelihoods of those within it is not as stable as it would seem from the outside, and that it is heavily dependent on individuals to preserve…

When pondering how to contribute to this special issue, the author was startled to realize that their career, the journal's history, and the development of the discipline--rhetoric and composition/writing studies (RCWS)--had run in parallel for 50 years. This essay tells a story of how "generation" came to matter in rhetoric and…

During the last 20 years, the teaching of writing has grown worldwide as a dynamic field of international academic practice and research, as attested to by the emergence of disciplinary societies, conferences, and publications. This paper builds on common nodes that have shaped the original contributions to Latin America's university-level…

In this article, we theorize the disciplinary lifecycle as an alternative to the limited metaphor of the "career arc." We argue that theorizing career trajectories as lifecycles resonates more fully with the experiences that are common to careers in rhetoric, composition, and writing studies (RCWS), thereby providing more possibilities…

The countries that make up the Middle East have intersecting though distinct and internally complex historical, economic, and linguistic histories. Disparate colonial histories and postcolonial legacies, the religious and socio-political positioning of Arabic as a regional language, and the influences of globalization and translanguaging create…

This article argues for greater attention to the embodied experiences and material practices of single mothers in the academy. Using critical imagination (Royster and Kirsch) to analyze how texts in the field have represented single motherhood, I identify three patterns of how mothers complete work, or what I term survivalist strategies to resist…

To speak to diverse audiences about how people learn to write and how writing works inside and outside the academy, we must conduct research across geographical, institutional, and cultural contexts as well as research that enables comparison when appropriate. Large-scale empirical research is useful for both of these moves; however, we must…

Neither the pervasiveness of writing in everyday life nor the movement of people across international borders is abating. Global migration has increased 33% since 2000, leaving millions of people negotiating family, politics, and money across borders. Likewise, according to Deborah Brandt's recent book, "The Rise of Writing," more people…

Though HBCUs represent a small number of higher education institutions across the U.S., they remain crucial sites for educating and empowering African American students and, as we discuss here, writers. Yet it's rare to see HBCUs represented consistently at professional conferences about composition studies and writing centers. As a result, the…

Proposes that emotions should be regarded as important components of learning. Focuses on recent trends in composition relating to how the emotions have or have not been included in discussions emphasizing writing instruction. Suggests opportunities for further research that give attention to emotion. (PM)