Composition Forum 34 - Countering Institutional Success Stories: Outlaw Emotions in the Literacy Narrative - Abstract

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay

The piece argues that literacy narratives are often shaped by the trope of “inventing the university,” which turns literacy into a success story and restricts students from expressing “outlaw” emotions such as loss, pain, and anxiety. It shows how master narratives flatten difference and obscure emotional labor, especially for students facing institutional struggle. It proposes pedagogical strategies that invite “little narratives” and broaden affective responses to literacy acquisition.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Countering Institutional Success Stories: Outlaw Emotions in the Literacy Narrative

Abstract

Strategies for encouraging affective responses in literacy acquisition

Limits of success tropes and the need for “little narratives”

Current Issue From the Editors Weblog Editorial Board Editorial Policy Submissions Archives Accessibility Search Composition Forum 34, Summer 2016 Countering Institutional Success Stories: Outlaw Emotions in the Literacy Narrative Rosanne Carlo Abstract: In the field of rhetoric and composition, literacy narratives are sometimes framed through the idea of“inventing the university”; this, unfortunately, creates a trope of literacy as success. I argue that the success trope limits student expression of “outlaw” emotions in literacy narratives—like loss, pain, and anxiety—and as a result, flattens conceptions of literacy and glosses over complex student life experiences and positionalities (race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. ) . This short pedagogical piece provides composition teachers with strategies that encourage students to identify a range of affective responses to the process of literacy acquisition. Teaching the literacy narrative—as a form solely connected to the trope of literacy as success—is troubling. I dream of student narrators telling the same, tired story about the kindly, influential teacher and the old-smelling school building and the ways they overcame the anxieties of too many years of institutional discipline and punish. These tropes haunt our discourses on literacy in rhetoric and composition, and they construct a version of the literacy narrative that doesn’t take into account the complex diversities of our students and their practices of everyday life that happened before, and continue to happen, inside and outside of our campus spaces and times. The literacy narrative invites students to perform an act of “inventing the university”(Bartholomae), or to demonstrate how they gained access to the academy. Beth Daniell warns of this master narrative and challenges instructors to be leery of “feel good” success stories (401) . Literacy as success lurks in our students’ imaginations: Kara Alexander reports that one third of the student literacy narratives she analyzes in her CCC article relied exclusively on this trope (623) . Composition instructors should instead encourage “little narratives” that reveal students’ positionality (race, class, gender, sexuality) and complicate the ideology of literacy as something that can “oppress or resist or liberate”—sometimes all at once (Daniell 406) . In other words, to counter these tired tropes that constrict student thinking about literacy, instructors should encourage students to write these “little narratives” that further allow for the expression of emotions beyond success. As Jonathan Alexander and Jacqueline Rhodes discuss, pedagogies centered on narrative reflection often “prevent us from perceiving and analyzing critical differences” as student stories are normed through a process of finding commonality among the writers and audience members; they describe this erasure of difference as a “flattening effect”(431) . We can further see how the success trope “flattens” the experiences of students and further conceals their emotional labor, especially basic writers, who may struggle in institutional settings and experience negative emotions—frustration, anxiety, pain—in relation to literate practices. I thus argue that we must re-imagine the genre of the literacy narrative to encourage student expressions of what Alison Jaggar calls “outlaw emotions,” or those feeling that are “[incompatible] with the dominant perceptions and values”—in this case, emotions outside the dominant narrative of literacy as success (166) . When I consider my own education, I may talk about my position and the ways I love my teaching and research, but I know all too well how formal gains in literacy are also met with losses. Often, academics are hesitant to discuss the emotional costs of education, of what it means to “invent the university” for those who come from working and lowermiddle-class backgrounds. For some of our students, education creates distance fro

FAQs

What is the central critique of literacy narratives in this piece?

It critiques the framing of literacy narratives through “inventing the university,” which creates a success trope that limits students’ ability to express emotions such as loss, pain, and anxiety.

How does the article describe the impact of the success trope?

The article argues that the success trope flattens differences, normalizes student stories through commonality, and conceals emotional labor, especially for students who struggle in institutional settings.

What teaching approach does the author recommend?

Composition teachers are encouraged to promote “little narratives” and to support a range of affective responses, enabling students to write beyond the dominant success framework.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay