To Have or Have Not: The Foucauldian Quandary of Control in Teacher-Training

Michel Foucault's theories provide a way to understand the power dynamics often present in teacher-training, in which teaching assistants negotiate among various "knowledges" in order to develop a classroom teaching style that both honors and resists their training. In "The Archaeology of (Gendered) Knowledge" (by Scot Petersen), a graduate student discusses the difficulty of coming to terms with his own gender constructs while working within a gender-conscious writing program. In "Pop! Goes the Classroom: The History of Textuality" (by Laurie Nardone), another graduate student discusses how introducing popular culture as a serious subject of discussion into the classroom has the potential to subvert what the Department of English recognizes as textuality. Finally, in "Underlife and Teacher-Training: The Paradox of Leaving Room for Anarchy" (by Kathleen Ann Kelly), a writing program administrator reads the relationship between new teaching assistants and their supervisor through Robert Brooke's concept of "underlife." (SR)