Why Well-Being, Why Now?: Tracing an Alternate Genealogy of Emotion in Composition - Current Issue

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay

This article critically examines overlooked drivers behind higher education’s shift toward emotions, happiness, and well-being, especially within writing studies. It explains positive psychology and positive education, outlines their central features, and problematizes their assumptions, values, and goals. The piece traces how these movements intersect with writing and well-being, emphasizing writing’s role in positive education pedagogies and the potential for writing studies to critique and shape well-being instruction. It also argues that embracing emotion can introduce ideological commitments that challenge educators’ own beliefs and ethics.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Composition Forum 34, Summer 2016

Why Well-Being, Why Now?: Tracing an Alternate Genealogy of Emotion in Composition

Teaching Well-Being in Schools: Positive Psychology and Positive Education

Current Issue From the Editors Weblog Editorial Board Editorial Policy Submissions Archives Accessibility Search Composition Forum 34, Summer 2016 Why Well-Being, Why Now?: Tracing an Alternate Genealogy of Emotion in Composition Jill Belli Abstract: This article critically analyzes under-acknowledged influences on the recent turn toward emotions, happiness, and well-being in higher education generally and in writing studies specifically: positive psychology (the science of happiness) and positive education (teaching well-being) . I provide an overview of their primary features and complicate their assumptions, values, and goals. I also highlight their overlap with and implications for writing studies, including connections and shared concepts between writing and well-being, the central role of writing in positive psychology and positive education pedagogies, and the potential for writing studies to critique and influence well-being education. I argue that embracing emotion as a key component of our pedagogy and scholarship introduces ideological commitments that may challenge and even undermine our personal and professional beliefs. Positive psychology and positive education deserve our sustained attention, and any consideration about emotions in composition will need to confront these movements’ influential version of teaching well-being. Positive psychology, the influential “science of happiness,” researches well-being and strives to increase it at individual and societal levels. Recently, it has been applied as “positive education,” which brings positive psychology research and practices to classrooms, schools, and curricula to teach flourishing on a global scale. The research, rhetoric, and pedagogy of these movements have contributed to a surging interest in emotions, well-being, and happiness in educational settings, raising awareness of factors beyond the intellectual domain that has traditionally been the focus of academic achievement. Positive psychology and positive education have also captured the interests of policy makers, institutions, administrators, teachers, and students, creating a hospitable climate for integrating emotion, well-being, and education. Our field’s attention to how emotions can be leveraged to produce better writing, pedagogy, and scholarship is happening in parallel with these efforts to institutionalize well-being in educational contexts. Tracing points of intersection with the discourses of positive psychology and positive education uncovers an oft-overlooked antecedent and potential trajectory for the presence of emotions in writing studies. More significantly, foregrounding positive psychology and positive education here allows for “analyses of the institutional structures that circumscribe our activities as teachers and administrators”(Jacobs and Micciche 6) . Positive psychology’s prominence in both popular culture and educational discourses suggests its methods, tools, and values may begin to trickle into writing classrooms and research. First-year writing (FYW) may be a particularly vulnerable site due to its traditionally service role in the institution. It often acts as handmaid of others’ interests, acclimating and normalizing students to both academic writing conventions and college life, and playing a key role in interdisciplinary curricula. Furthermore, in an age of budget cuts, austerity measures, commodification of education, and accountability, teaching for well-being is buoyed by the persistent notion of crisis in education and the cures promised in response. Although it is one of the most visible generators of the rhetoric of emotions in education, this influence remains largely invisible, untheorized, and unengaged by those in writing studies.{1} This article addresses this problem by highlighting another interdisciplinary, contemporary context for our field's recent focus on emotion. Below, I provide an overview of positive education (and its parent,

FAQs

What problem does the article address about emotion and well-being in composition?

Positive psychology and positive education overlap with writing studies through shared concepts about well-being and through the central role of writing in their pedagogies. The article also proposes that writing studies can critique and influence how well-being education is implemented.

How does positive education connect to positive psychology in schools?

Positive education adapts positive psychology research and practices for classrooms and curricula to teach flourishing. Advocates treat well-being as a desirable educational objective and attempt to align teaching, learning goals, and policy with research on happiness and subjective well-being.

What ideological and ethical concerns does the article raise?

The article argues that treating emotion as a key component of pedagogy and scholarship may bring ideological commitments that run counter to writing educators’ values and goals. It frames this as raising pedagogical and ethical questions about well-being-focused work and its underlying agendas.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay