Traversing the Democratic Borders of the Essay

Foreword
Gail Y. Okawa
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
The Personal, the Political, and the Rhetorical: Montaigne's and Bacon's Use of the Essay Form
Essaying an American Democratic Identity in Emerson and Thoreau
The Essay as Political/Cultural Critique in Latin America
Achieving a Place in Academia through the Personal Academic Essays of Victor Villanueva and Ruth Behar
2. The Personal, the Political, and the Rhetorical: Montaigne and Bacon's Use of the Essay Form
Brief Biography of Michel de Montaigne
Montaigne's Departure from Traditional Rhetorical Writing
Francis Bacon and the Essay
3. Essaying an American Democratic Identity in Emerson and Thoreau
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Biographical Background
Montaigne, Plutarch, Emerson, and the Essay The Essay, Education, and the Formation of a U.S. National Identity
Emerson and "The American Scholar"
Henry David Thoreau
Historical and Political Background of Walden
Early Book Reviews of Walden and Its Significance to the Essay
4. The Essay as Political/Cultural Critique in Latin America
Freire's Place in Latin American History
Freire's Social Pedagogy and Its Tie to the Elements of the Essay
Freire's Pedagogical Ties to Self-Reflection in the Essay
Accessible Writing and the Freirian Essay
Freire and the Issue of Spontaneity
The Essay's Elements of Sincerity and Truthfulness in Freire's Writings
5. Achieving a Place in Academia through the Personal Academic Essays of Victor Villanueva and Ruth Behar
Conversations with Victor Villanueva on Bootstraps and His Influence in Rhetoric and Composition
Villanueva's Use of Self-Reflection and Accessibility in Bootstraps
The Movement from Mimicry to Spontaneity in Villanueva's Academic Writings
Sincerity and Acceptance in Villanueva's Scholarship
Ruth Behar and Her Rise to Academic Prominence
Behar's Use of Self-Reflexivity and Accessibility to Reconcile Her Ethnographic Identity in Academia
Spontaneity and the Essay: Behar's Growing Resistance to Becoming a Translated Academic
Behar's Use of Sincere Writing to Uncover Her Truth as an Ethnographer
6. Conclusion
Works Cited
Index