Exploring Embodiment through the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine: An Arts-Based, Transgenre Pedagogy

Abstract

: This article proposes an arts-based pedagogy that highlights embodiment in first-year composition (FYC). In particular, this pedagogy focuses on “transgenre composing,” or the intersecting of visual art and writing. I argue that, when embraced alongside the rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM), transgenre composing facilitates inclusive classroom spaces where embodiment is celebrated. In addition to providing context for this pedagogy in FYC, I also bring in possibilities for adopting this approach in other disciplines, including the social sciences and health professions. Further, to provide tangible representations of this arts-based, embodied pedagogy, I discuss two transgenre compositions: one is an original project that outlines my own embodied experience through RHM, and the other is a student project that was created in an FYC class where this approach was enacted. To think about rhetoric, we must think about bodies. – Johnson et al. (2015) While I recognize the embodied nature of the work I do as a teacher, writer, and artist, embodiment is not always acknowledged in the academy. Despite work being done to shift this mindset, students in the writing classes I teach frequently resist writing like they are embodied individuals with embodied experiences. Even when they are encouraged to do so, they ask if they are allowed to use first-person point of view or if they can include stories and details