Writing Commons
In previous years, the Writing Commons has helped graduate students answer the question: “How do I write?”. However, recognizing the increasing proliferation of technological writing tools and Apps (Grammarly, AI, etc.), widely (if cautiously) accepted by the academic community, we propose reimagining the purposes of the Writing Commons by centring a new question for these times: “Why do I write?”, and “How do I write as part of wider academic community committed to making transformative change?”
Beyond just working with students in their individual manuscripts, we hope to support them to think more deeply about writing. How might we write if writing is a process that amplifies voices rather than mould them to fit a formulaic structure? How might we write if writing is a collective and political practice?
Through a thoughtful, collaborative approach to supporting students, we are excited to work towards creating a resource-Hub and space for collaborative dialogue, wherein students will be invited to engage in the Writing Commons to think critically about the act of writing – and what this process means as an ethical and social practice. Perhaps more importantly, we envisage supporting graduate students to think about their writing as an integral part of the active and ongoing process of collective knowledge-making, versus a technocratic assignment to be graded.
