Innovative Methods and Practices of Academic Writing and Writing Instruction SocioCultural Context of Writing
WRITING AND SHAME.
Honegger Monique¹, Erik Altorfer²
¹Writing Center, Zurich University of Teacher Education, Zurich, Switzerland ²Writing Center, Zurich University of Teacher Education, Zurich, Switzerland
Shame and Writing. Shame and Its Consequences on Writing Keine Angst vor dem leeren Blatt – Don’t be afraid of the blank page – is the title of a book by Otto Kruse. The purpose or our paper is to show how shame can be seen as a resource in writing processes. Although emotions and affects have an influence on writers and shape the way they experience their writing process, the topic has not yet been subject to empirical research. Shame works in an indirect and disguised way. Hilgers (2012) introduces the notion of the “fish face”, which can be seen on individuals, while they experience shame. Our presentation focuses on theoretical aspects showing how psychological concepts of affects, especially shame, can be used for the analysis of writingprocesses in order to improve the quality of coaching/supervising writers. Altough emotion – especially motivation (cf. Hayes 1986 and 2000) – has a central function in writing, there is hardly any research focussing on writing and affects. For the past two years we have been working in this area theoretically (cf Honegger 2015). Based on the results of a study concerning the “reluctance to share unfinished texts” (Honegger 2008), we combine psychological expertise from clinical work on affects with our own experience as coaches at a writing center (cf Honegger 2015). In the course of his or her writing process, every writer has to deal with emotions of shame:. Writers are ashamed when they suffer from a writer’s block, when they think that they are not competent enough or when they feel a reluctance to share unfinished versions of texts with writing coaches or peers. In a first step – adopting an interdisciplinary theoretical perspective and with a focus on coaching aspects – this presentation shows which kind of notions of shame are predominant in writing: for instance the feeling of inadequacy (i.e. not being competent enough, «Kompetenzscham»), the fear of losing one’s integrity («Integritätsscham») or of not meeting the required standards or the goals we aspire («Idealitätscham»). In a second step, we discuss whether becoming aware of shame can assist writers and coaches in their work. Our finding is: Shame is closely associated with writing. The gate of shame is a critical point in the writing process – and, in a coaching context, it is therefore important to guide writers through this gate of shame.
References
Dreyfürst, S./ Sennewald, N. (2014) (Ed.) : Schreiben. Grundlagentexte zur Theorie, Didaktik und Beratung. Leverkusen: Verlag Barbara Budrich.
HILGERS, M. (2012). Scham. Gesichter eines Affekts. Second Ed. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
HONEGGER, M (2015) (Ed): Schreiben und Scham. Wenn ein Affekt zur Sprache kommt. Giessen: Psychosozialverlag. (In Print)
HONEGGER, M (2015): Funktionen von Scham bei Schreiben. In: Honegger, M. (2015) (Ed): Schreiben und Scham. Schreiben und Scham. Wenn ein Affekt zur Sprache kommt. Giessen: Psychosozialverlag
HONEGGER, M. (2008): Zeigeblockade. In: www.zeitschriftschreiben.eu .
KRUSE, O. (2000): Keine Angst vor dem leeren Blatt. Ohne Schreibblockaden durchs Studium. Frankfurt/Main: Campus. MARKS, S (2010): Die Würde des Menschen. Oder: Der blinde Fleck in unserer Gesellschaft. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus.