Composition Forum 2026 web Open Access

What’s in a Word? Using Etymology to Contest Neoliberal Discourses of Failure

Sara Biggs Chaney

Abstract

This essay proposes etymology as a mode of critical investigation and rhetorical invention that can be employed to historicize and critique neoliberal discourses of failure in composition programs and classrooms. Founding my argument on an etymological analysis of recent psychology research about college students with ADHD, I posit that key terms of the financialized university can be analyzed in order to promote historical and cultural understandings and open rhetorical spaces for students and teachers to respond to the material politics of the present.

Journal
Composition Forum
Published
2026
CompPile
Open Access
OA PDF Gold
Subjects
ADHD; Failure; Neoliberalism; Critical University Studies; Etymology; Pedagogy
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