Chidsey Dickson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
English Department
Lynchburg College
Experience / Background
My research and teaching are focused on the ethics and technology of writing communities. Ethics, for me, is the relational aspect of any social practice, so it’s different from morality, a private code of rules to live by. I have my morality and you have yours, but ethics is something we negotiate because it concerns how we understand the implications of our (individual or collective) behaviors. Technology—you know what that is—any artifact that shapes our experience of ourselves and the world: mall architecture, fashion, Xerox machines, computers, music, food, cars…basically everything! So, putting these together, I’m interested in how our use of communication technologies promotes or restricts our willingness to understand and tolerate others, discover new insights, and be critically aware of ourselves. Of course, this is not an original topic of inquiry! In the West, rhetoricians have been turning over the questions of invention and delivery (e.g., how people hatch ideas and present them to others) and all the philosophical aspects of language for three thousand years. Other regions of the world have their own histories and legacies of considering how language intersects with behavior.
This introduction to my theoretical interests might explain my passion for “zines” (amateur magazines produced on the cultural fringe and addressing such topics as pop music, women’s issues, gay issues, sports, fashion, TV, politics). Zines are written by people who are still curious and enthusiastic about how to communicate and want to explore the ramifications of what it means to communicate. These are folks who, say, don’t just argue a point but ponder what it means to persuade through evidential reasoning (or base trickery), who consider what does it feel like to “argue” in different media, in different “voices.” Those people are my people: the many, the eccentric, the weird.
Degrees and Certifications
- B.A. in Philosophy
1988
Union College (Schenectady, New York) - Ph.D. in English
1997
University of Texas-Austin
Professional/Research Interests
My principal research area—rhetoric and ethics—grew out of my dissertation, “First-Year Composition as Rhetorical and Cultural Inquiry,” which was about how college writing courses can and should include a focus on everyday texts (including fashion, TV, and décor). Most of the essay is devoted to my discussion of which aspects of cultural and rhetorical theory are most useful for framing a contemporary person’s communicative choices as strategic and ethical. My dissertation became a kind of blueprint for my pedagogical experiments over the last several years. Basically, as a writing teacher, I’ve been trying to prepare people to handle themselves in situations in the real world that require more complexity and subtlety than, say, a pro/con debate (your standard five paragraph essay, which asserts and supports a claim). I really don’t think that, when it comes to literacy training, the “tried 'n true” will suffice. If writing is going to be a social activity resplendent with possibilities for personal innovation and social transformation, we have to experiment with different heuristics for argument, research, analysis, digital rhetoric, etc! This is what I try to do in my courses and my scholarship documents and reflects upon the results.
Information on Courses Taught
I teach First Year Composition, Advanced Expository Writing, Technical Writing, Web Writing, and two popular fiction genre: Mystery & Crime and Fantasy & Horror. Many of my writing classes have a service learning component; all of my literature courses draw on various cultural traditions and interpretive frameworks.
Publications
"Cross-Conversations on Writing, Interviewing, and Editing: A Meta-Interview with Wade Mahon and Eric Schroeder," Brad Lucas and Margaret Strain, with Chidsey Dickson and Alexis Hart Kairos: A Journal For Teachers of Writing Volume 10. September, 2005.
"Does Computer-Mediated Communication Have an Ethics?" in TnT: Texts and Technology. Eds Janice Walker and Ollie O. Oviedo. Foreward by Jay Bolter. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, March 2003.
"E-zines and Freshmen Composition." With Dagmar Corrigan. Kairos: A Journal for Teachers of Writing, August , 2002.
Personal Information
I was born in Maryland and raised in Houston, Texas. Before moving to Lynchburg, I taught and lived in California, Georgia, and (Tidewater) Virginia. I have family in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, and Montana. My non-professional interests include camping, collecting (almost anything from the 1950s and 1960s, and then appealing junk of any vintage), pick-up basketball, and fringe writing and film. I live with my family: Kirsche, who holds a Ph.D. in dance history and theory from the University of California-Riverside, Atticus, who spends his time cultivating his talents as Pokemon artist and hula-hooper, and Oliver, who has impressive stamina as a storyteller and destroyer of the family home.
Professional Associations and Affiliations
I monitor and participate in the listserv of the WPA (Association of Writing Program Administrators). I am a bona fide member of the MLA (Modern Language Association) and NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English).
I can be reached at 434/544 8110, or by e-mail at dickson_c@lynchburg.edu.