The Writers in the University project aims to offer a glimpse into writing and scholarship as they are practiced by different scholars at the American University of Beirut. In the series of videos created for the project, faculty members from across the campus discuss their practices of reading, writing, and teaching.
These rich conversations offer insights into the multiplicity of roles writing plays in the work of academic disciplines and in the lives of individuals. Viewed collectively, the discussions show how the writers' widely differing aims, values, and practices reflect differences among their academic disciplines. Several of the conversations suggest that a scholar's identification with a discipline may sometimes appear seamless and at other times be contentious or questioning. Many conversations highlight the powerful roles that mentors have played in the scholars' lives. Finally, the faculty members share nuanced stories about their experiences of learning and writing in different languages.
While the Writers in the University project is meant to contribute to the teaching and learning of academic writing at the American University of Beirut, we hope the videos may also be interesting and instructive to others in Lebanon, the MENA region, and beyond.
The project has previously been presented at academic conferences. A presentation at EATAW 2019 in Göteborg, Sweden, was published as
Moments of Intersection, Rupture, Tension: Writing and Academic Disciplines in the Semiperiphery, in Gustafsson, Magnus, & Andreas Eriksson (Eds.). (2022). Negotiating the Intersections of Writing and Writing Instruction. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado.
https://doi.org/10.37514/INT-B.2022.1466
We are very grateful to the eight faculty members who participated in this project. The interviews were conducted by John Pill and Amy Zenger. The video editor was Vicken Margossian. The video recorder was Edward Zakaria. The AUB Office of Communications provided advice and support on video production, website publication, and promotion of the videos.
This project was supported by grants from the Center for Teaching and Learning at the American University of Beirut and by a generous private contribution from Carol Haviland. The project plan was approved by the AUB Institutional Review Board, and participant consent was obtained for the recording of discussions and interviews, as well as for the final, edited videos that have been shared online.
You may contact us via email:
John Pill
j.pill@lancaster.ac.uk
Amy Zenger
zenger@aubmed.ac.cy
How to cite:
- Project webpage
Zenger, A., & Pill, J. (n.d.). Writers in the university: Conversations with scholars. American University of Beirut. https://www.aub.edu.lb/writers-university/
- Individual video (Hanafi as an example)
American University of Beirut. (n.d.). Writers in the university: Conversations with scholars. Sari Hanafi [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9XbwGwXmAg