John Duffy

1. Home > 
2. Faculty > 
3. Profiles > 
4. John Duffy

Associate Professor

Specialty: Literacy, rhetoric

Degrees: B.A., Boston College; M.A., University College, Dublin; M.A., Columbia University; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

John Duffy is the Francis O’Malley Director of the University Writing Program. His scholarly work is concerned with the historical development of literacy and rhetoric in cross-cultural contexts. His most recent book, Writing from These Roots, was awarded the 2009 Outstanding Book Award by the Conference on College Composition and Communication, and he has published essays in Written Communication, College Composition and Communication, and other journals. Duffy is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.  He teaches courses in rhetoric, writing, and literature.

Recent Scholarly Activity

• “Virtuous Arguments.” Inside Higher Ed. March 16, 2012. www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/03/16/essay-value-first-year-writing-courses
• Editor (with Melanie Yergeau), Special Issue: Disability and Rhetoric, Disability Studies Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 3 (2011)
• “The Pathos of ‘Mindblindness’: Autism, Science, and Sadness in ‘Theory of Mind’ Narratives” (with Rebecca Dorner). Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies (5.2): 201-215. 2011.
• Writing from These Roots: The Historical Development of Literacy in a Hmong- American Community. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2007.
• “Recalling the Letter: The Uses of Oral Testimony in Historical Studies of Literacy.” Written Communication 24.1 (2007): 84-107.
• "'Primitives' and Pencils: The Social Construction of Preliteracy." International Journal of Learning, 2005.

Recent Talks

• “Virtuous Words: Argument and Ethics in the University.” Indiana University-South Bend, South Bend, IN, February 9, 2012.
• “After Arizona: First Year Writing and a Rhetoric of Ethical Practice.” Writing Democracy Conference, Texas A& M-Commerce, Commerce, TX, March 9, 2011. Keynote Speaker.
• “The Reaches of Literacy:  Hmong Americans Reading and Writing.” University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, April 18, 2010.
• “Of Voices in the Fortress: Autism, Rhetoric, and the Notion of ‘Mindblindness.’” The Corbett Lecture, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, April 1, 2010.
• “Everyday Rhetoric: Argument, Torture, and National Public Radio.” Center for Writing Studies’ Colloquium Series, University of Illinois, February 18, 2010
• “The Problems of Hmong ‘Preliteracy.’” Hmong Literacies Speaker Series, University of Minnesota. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, February 25, 2010.

Contact Information
338 Decio Hall
(574) 631-9796
jduffy@nd.edu

Postal address
Department of English
356 O’Shaughnessy
Notre Dame, IN 46556