Writing Across the Northern Border: The Study of Writing and Discourse in Canada

Those of us who work primarily in the United States may not be familiar with the study and teaching of writing in the institutional and scholarly traditions north of the border within the Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing (CASDW). Its May 2009 meeting in Ottawa, Canada, at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences provided several insights about the perspectives that this group represents.

This essay reviews the interdisciplinary context of the Congress, discusses the unique disciplinary and research contexts of CASDW, and urges greater dialogue across our national borders.