Programming Women: Rhetorical Education, Literacy, and Coding
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Rea, Elizabeth
- Graduate Program:
- English
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 01, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Suresh Canagarajah, Outside Unit & Field Member
Stuart Selber, Co-Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Cheryl Glenn, Major Field Member
Debra Hawhee, Co-Chair & Dissertation Advisor
David Loewenstein, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- literacy
coding
rhetorical education
feminism - Abstract:
- Computer programming literacy is increasingly understood as vital for participation in today’s global economy, but as a practice, it faces significant issues of access, representation, and equity. In response to information technologies that can exacerbate existing disparities of gender, race, and class, the industry of coding education designed for women and underrepresented communities is growing rapidly. Despite the importance and ubiquity of this industry, the discipline of writing studies knows relatively little about contemporary programming literacy education. Within writing studies, as in the fields of technical communication and rhetoric and composition, scholars have examined the rhetoricity of code, considered the intersections of identity and technology, and theorized literacy practices in technical and educational contexts. However, to date, writing studies has not yet considered how literacy, technology, and identity interact within the varied landscape of coding education. My dissertation addresses this gap through an analysis of sites of contemporary programming literacy education for women and underrepresented groups. Through a rhetorical study deploying a mixed-methods approach, I consider how literacy is taught, understood, and practiced in a range of sites for coding education, from university programs and online coding platforms to bootcamps, workshops, and meetups. Grounded in an intersectional feminist theoretical framework, my dissertation seeks to understand how these sites of programming education work to resist and/or reify the tech industry’s status quo. In doing so, my research contributes to ongoing conversations on literacy practices and technology in writing studies, as well as to public discourses of minoritized and marginalized programmers’ participation in the computing industry.