Abstract

The self as a construct in composition theory is usually divided into two broad categories: the expressionist theorists such as Peter Elbow, treat the self as a thing that can be coaxed to speak with an authentic voice. David Bartholomae and composition theorists who base their concepts of the self on poststructuralists such as Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, treat the self as a decentered, fluctuating, contingent construct created by language. Such a self could not emerge with an authentic voice, only the voice given it by the available discourses. ;Elbow's critics call his version of the self Cartesian, and question the existence of a coherent, unified self. Critics of poststructuralists question the usefulness of the decentered self for composition pedagogy. Do these constructions of the self exhaust all possibilities for composition theory? ;After a truncated analysis of the evolution of philosophical constructions of the self, this work proposes a pragmatic, ironist self based on the later work of Richard Rorty. The ironist self is a construct that can give composition theorists a self that can be taught, yet does not have the Cartesian overtones of the expressionist self. Unlike many advocates of the decentered self, it lays no claim to the empowerment of students. ;The ironist self is a contingent construction of language that can construct and reconstruct itself though redescription and recontextualization of its final vocabulary. Final vocabulary is a term Rorty uses to describe words we use to justify our beliefs and actions, and tell the stories of our lives. This account of the self offers many possibilities for subject positions, without the privileging of any particular subject over another. Composition professors become facilitators, supplying students with the tools, and creating an environment for redescription. Since the essence of the pragmatic concept of self is that no subject position is sacred, including the teacher's, students are not required to redescribe, and no subject position is beyond criticism