Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color

by Victor Villanueva

Bootstraps is an unusual at one level it is autobiographical, detailing the life of an American of Puerto Rican extraction from his childhood in New York City to an academic post at a university. At another level, Villanueva ponders his experiences in light of the history of rhetoric, the English Only movement, current socio- and psycholinguistic theory, and the writings of Gramsci and Freire, among others.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Language, Criticism, School, Academic, Grad School

151 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

Reviews

[nini · Rating 4 out of 5]

people i am, people i know — going into grad school w hegemony written on my notebook 📓

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Villanueva's Bootstraps is part memoir, part theory, focusing on the intersections of critical race theory, linguistics, composition, and a Gramscian understanding of hegemony. While the chapter progressions may strike some readers as odd- at times Villanueva writes in both first and third person, and he transitions from memoir into long discussions about theory with minimal transition, the quality of thoughts here are amazing. I wish that I read it as part of my Teaching of Writing program when I was working on my Master's in English.

[Naomi Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

btn 3.5/4

concept super fascinating and it’s something i often think about a lot so being able to find people studying these things as well is comforting and amazing to me. sometimes just drags out concepts but it’s an academic writing book so it makes sense, just struggling with the different writing style!

[Joe Santoli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for class. Absolutely awful. No organization. It is supposed to be a "postmodern" text, so it's supposed to be chaotic and out of order. Not interesting, not fun to read.

[Galen Leonhardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunningly brilliant work of art and theory!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this "mixed genre" book quite more than I expected. If you think about it, we encounter theory in context of our lives ("Ah, that's right, I read that in my sophomore philosophy class when I was living with a schizophrenic roommate..."), so why not talk about our lives and theory as they influence each other?

I'm not sure I share Villanueva's vitriol toward Hirshe (or heavy, depressing worldview, generally), but I really respect him as a rhetorician, and a lot of what he expresses about being a minority in the academy struck me as open and sincere.

It strikes a chord with a very dissatisfying lecture I heard. When Sharon Crowley (one of his mentors) keynoted at RSA about racism that "other people" have, everyone applauded. They asked questions about how to combat racism in their students, their state governments, even their administrators, but when I looked around the audience, I could only count three or four "rhetoricians of color" in my view. How is this only someone else's problem? Why do we think we're so far evolved from it? I'm sorry Crowley missed the opportunity to call us out and further support Villanueva and those like him instead of making us feel even more self-satisfied.

[Graham Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly well-done mix of auto-narrative and crit theory. Other than the Gramsci love fest at the end (and the section on his PhD research went on a little long) it flows well and is very well-crafted.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me think about myself in a different light, realizing that I am a 3rd generation immigrant minority who, because I am white, have completely assimilated into the majority. I also loved the idea of using folklore to teach critical thinking and rhetoric.

[Christie Lamon-Burney]

Changed everything.

[Ron Christiansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

About as ruckus of a book as you can get with education and writing and diversity. We had the author come to our campus, meet with us, give a speech. A very small but fierce witty guy.

[Bruce Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best discussion I've read yet on the hegemony of the culture-classroom spectrum.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the books that has kept me in the game.

[Haley Petcher Bynum · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Read for grad school (Composing Identities)