Blackboard Exercises
James Berlin
Description
James A. Berlin (b. 1942 in Hamtramck, Michigan) died suddenly of a heart attack on 2-2-1994 after his daily jog. The oldest of seven children, he earned his B.A. (summa cum laude) from Central Michigan University on a football scholarship and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Victorian Literature in 1975. He served as a professor of English at Wichita State University, the University of Cincinnati, where he directed first-year English (1981-85), and Purdue University (1987-1994). He published Writing Instruction in Nineteenth-Century American Colleges, Rhetoric and Reality: Writing Instruction in American Colleges. 1900-1985, and Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English Studies, the latter posthumously, co-edited Cultural Studies in the English Classroom, as well as numerous book chapters and articles in journals such as College English and Pre/Text.
Berlin work, which included historical and rhetorical perspectives, used Marxist philosophy and focused on cultural studies which integrated the notion that English curriculum—which influences nearly everybody—was a key vehicle for creating citizens engaged in civic affairs. In his last book, published posthumously, he demonstrated how the cultural studies curriculum can help resolve the century-old split between “rhetoric” and “poetics” and how that curriculum can contribute not only to improving students’ writing skills but also to helping them become truly thoughtful and literate citizens. He was a frequent visiting speaker at other universities, known for his intense but humorous presentations.
From a colleague at a memorial for Berlin: One person told me a story about a seminar in which Jim was participating at Texas when he was there and Jim had been trying to make a point about social constructionism to some reluctant Texas graduate students. And this graduate student recounted having asked a question in frustration: “Well, does rhetoric make airplanes fly?” and Jim said: “Yes, damn it!”
Author
Marlene De La Cruz-Guzman
Date of Upload
11/03/09