In our recent intergenerational interview with the founding, former, and current editors of Computers and Composition for the journal’s forthcoming 40th Anniversary Special Issue, Drs. Cindy Selfe, Kristine Blair, and Jason Tham emphasized that the current moment calls for renewed attention to two areas the field has yet to fully address: multimodality and social justice. There is an urgent need to center human experience and address issues of access, equity, inclusion, and diversity through our teaching practices, pedagogical innovations, and collective research efforts. Multimodality holds considerable potential to advance these goals, enacting a human-centered approach to composition while addressing social-justice-related…
Author: Ali Alalem
Thais Rodrigues Cons, Ali Alalem
Ali Alalem is a PhD Candidate in Composition and Rhetoric at The University of Alabama. His research explores multimodal composition as a transformative pedagogy.
Over time, I have come to realize how deeply our lived experiences shape who we are as scholars and teachers. I often ask myself what drives my passion for leveraging multimodal composition to foster access and social and civic engagement. For me, the answer lies in my own journey, in the unexpected ways I have seen technology-mediated literacy practices open paths, forge connections, and expand agency. Growing up in a challenging context, I found solace in technology as a teenager. Since home internet was not an option, I often sneaked to a nearby internet café after school to experiment with…