2019 Theses Doctoral

Beyond Disciplinary Drama: Federal Dollars and ESL Instruction for African Americans

Thomas, Dorell Oneil

This dissertation investigated the curious appearance of English as a second language pedagogy for African American freshmen at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in the Fall of 1969 (Scott & Angle, 1970, p. 4). The work explored the researcher’s professional and financial interests in literacy problems that attracted both foundation and National Defense of Education Act funding. Looking beyond disciplinary drama, this dissertation suggested that binaries between marginal researchers and creative ones take away from the complexity of disciplinarity. Oppositions foreclosed on indexing the normative role that sponsors played in our post-World War II and Cold War histories in English instruction.