Abstract
This article takes a critical look at pieces generated from a capstone project in a recent mixed-genre Intro to Creative Writing workshop. It was inspired by an open-ended creative project asking students to use technology to generate unconventional works of fiction, poetry, memoir, and theatre. Writer and educator Rebecca Valley's hope when assigning this project was to encourage students to innovate and step outside their standard forms. But beyond mere innovation of form, students surprised her in their capacity to use technology to hybridize their authorial voices – rather than merely changing the form of their own words, they became curators and editors of a new, cyborg voice.
The article takes a critical look at the history of cyborg scholarship and the role of technology as a tool for creation in the Intro to Creative Writing classroom. With four excerpts from real student projects, the article suggests that by inviting students to use the cyborg voice, we can also encourage them to question capitalist ideas of romanticized self-expression, "ownership" of language, and marketability.
Recommended Citation
Valley, Rebecca
(2021)
"Cultivating the Cyborg Voice: Technology in the Creative Writing Classroom,"
Journal of Creative Writing Studies: Vol. 6:
Iss.
2, Article 7.
Available at:
https://repository.rit.edu/jcws/vol6/iss2/7