Abducting Writing Studies

This collection is organized around the concept of abduction, a logical operation introduced by Charles Sanders Peirce that explains how new ideas are formed in response to an uncertain future. Responding to this uncertain future with rigor and insight, each essay imagines new methods, concepts, and perspectives that extend writing studies research into startling new terrain. In order to appeal to a wide range of audiences, each essay works within foundational areas in rhetoric and composition research such as: space, time, archive, networks, inscription, and life. Some of the essays take familiar concepts such as historiography, the writing subject, or tone and use abduction to chart new paths forward. Others use abduction to identify areas within writing studies such as futural writing, the calling of place, and risk that require more sustained attention. Taken together, these essays expose the manifold pathways that writing studies research may pursue.

Each of the twelve essays that comprise this collection spark new insights about the phenomenon of writing. A must-read for rhetoric and composition scholars and students, Abducting Writing Studies is sure to foster vibrant discussions about what is possible in writing research and instruction.

Sidney I. Dobrin?is a professor of English at the University of Florida. He is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of numerous books, including?Postcomposition, winner of the 2011 W. Ross Winterowd Award for best book published in composition theory.
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Kyle Jensen?is an associate professor of English at the University of North Texas. He is the author of Reimagining Process: Online Writing Archives and the Future of Writing Studies and has published essays in The Quarterly Journal of Speech, JAC?and?Rhetoric Review.
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