African American Literacies
Introduction: don't we still have to prove our humanity? 1. Literacy, language, composition, rhetoric and (not) the African American student: sick and tired of being sick and tired 2. the literacies of African American-centered rhetoric and composition: freestylin' or lookin' for a style that's free 3. "To protect and serve": African American female literacies 4. African American-centered rhetoric, composition, and literacy: theory and research 5. Composition in a fifth key: rhetorics and discourses in an African American-centered writing classroom 6. Dukin' it out with "the powers that be": centering African American-centered studies and students in the traditional curriculum
“We Real Cool”: Toward a Theory of Black Masculine Literacies
A BSTRA C T This article reports findings from an ethnographic study of the literacy practices of a group of 11- to 14-year-old black males who called themselves “the cool kids.” The study is framed using theories that view literacy as a social and cultural practice involving multiple sign-and-symbol systems. Two research questions guided the study: How did coolness relate to literacy among “the cool kids,” and what symbolic patterns helped to shape these relations? The findings describe how race, gender, and pop culture marked the group’s use of language and style and reveal how coolness, as a pop-cultural artifact of black manhood, contributed to the literacy practices of the young men and to the construction of their symbolic selves. These findings contribute to building a theory of black masculine literacies.
Project management education: The human skills imperative
Abstract This paper is intended to provide an insight into the importance of human skills in project management success and the apparent lack of emphasis placed on this within the context of university education. The discussion will call upon the viewpoints of many notable authors in respect to the human or ‘soft’ skills that are necessary in the management of projects. Against this background a review will be conducted into how well project management literature and university education equips potential project managers in the area of human skills. As the PMBOK ® Guide is one of the major recommended texts in Australian universities offering project management education, the paper will identify that it predominantly emphasises the required ‘hard (technical) skills’ at the expense of the ‘soft (human) skills’. Subsequent discussion will highlight the need for a balance between hard and soft skills within project management education in universities. It will conclude that educators within this discipline should recognise the importance of incorporating greater human skills aspects into their educational programs.