What We Hold in Common: An Introduction to Working-class Studies

Janet Zandy

Feminist Press at CUNY, 2001 - Business & Economics - 336 pages

"Let us imagine what it would be like," writes Janet Zandy at the outset of this ground-breaking volume, "if the history and culture of working-class people were at the center of educational practices. What would students learn?" Among other things, she suggests, "they would understand that culture is created by individuals within social contexts and that they themselves could produce it as well as consume it."

Working-class history and literature have too often been ignored in traditional curricula, remain invisible in most texts, and are unavailable to students and teachers. Essential reading for all interested in the rapidly growing field of working-class studies, What We Hold in Common offers a distinct combination of primary voices, critical essays, and resources for curriculum transformation. It deepens the understanding of working-class literature, history, culture, and artistic production, while attending to the material conditions of working-class peoples' lives.

Contents

• Stories from a WorkingClass Childhood: 10
• Death Mask: 24
• Maida SpringerKemp and: 47
• Autobiography and Reconstructing Subjectivity at the Bryn Mawr: 71
• Working Class Consciousness in Jo Sinclairs The Seasons: 96
• vi: 101
• Teaching WorkingClass: 123
• A Community of Workers photos and text: 142
• Carol Tarlen: 156
• Moving Toward Marginal: 182
• Agency and the Damaged Self: 199
• Notes Toward an Overview: 223
• Traveling Working Class: 241
• Building a Center for WorkingClass Studies at Youngstown: 253
• The Power of Writing: 265
• Race Labor and the High Life from: 275
• WorkingClass Studies and the Question of Proletarian Literature in: 283
• Poor in America syllabus: 290
• Who Does the Work? A OneDay Introduction to American: 298
• A Filmography: 311
• Biographical Notes: 327
• Publication Acknowledgments: 335

Bibliographic information

• Title: What We Hold in Common: An Introduction to Working-class Studies; G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
• Editor: Janet Zandy
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Feminist Press at CUNY, 2001
• ISBN: 1558612599, 9781558612594
• Length: 336 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Women in Business; History / Social History; Literary Criticism / American / General; Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / General; Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies; Social Science / Minority Studies; Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity; Social Science / Women's Studies