This dissertation examines stories of transformation integral to representations of nineteenth-century American evangelical literacy instruction: transformations of literacy students into Christians and transformations of literate Christians into critics of authority. In particular, I describe how nineteenth-century evangelical literacy education was represented as a powerful engine of change for the literacy student and the students community in novels, letter writing manuals, and tract society literature. As I read these texts, the historical representations of evangelical literacy instruction present this instruction as a two-step process of transformation in which, first, the student is transformed and, second, the student affects transformations on the people in his/her community . In unearthing these stories of transformation I am able to construct an overlooked history in which literacy and the literary intertwine with evangelical Protestantism. This history is valuable not only for what it tells us about the past, but it also sheds light on the assumptions we make today about the transformative potential of literacy education. I demonstrate, for instance, that these narratives of transformation have present-day analogues in secular, scholarly debates about transforming composition students into activists and policy-makers. In particular, I examine the metaphors and narratives composition scholars use to characterize the means by which composition courses are thought to prepare students to engage with public spheres.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-07182007-133136 |
| Date | 19 September 2007 |
| Creators | Glascott, Brenda Marguerite |
| Contributors | Dr. Kathryn Flannery, Dr. Stephen Carr, Dr. Nancy Glazener, Dr. Donna Strickland |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07182007-133136/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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