Sir Mix-a-Lot: Hybrid and Anti-Genres
Purpose of Exercise: How to push back against existing genres. How to compose an anti-genre. This will help students see genres as being more than a set of rules. You might pair this with readings like Kerry Dirk's "Navigating Genres," Amy Devitt's "Generalizing about Genre," or the BBG introduction to genre.
Description: This is an exercise that would help students understand different genres by mixing genres that would not normally be paired together. Have a hat so that students can pull their different genres out of a hat! You will also need to prepare a list of genres (or students can help you here).
Suggested Time: End of one class and beginning of the next
Procedure: Start by showing three examples that defy genre, mockumentary, Movie Poster Satire, Found poem. This will give students an expectation of a creative project that mashes two or more genres.
Put genre topics into a hat and have them choose two. After this, have them do a creative project that mashes the two. They may want to begin by listing the conventions of each genre. For example, if they pull out something like “Essay” and “Painting” they could combine a personal essay that combines ekphrasis or they could paint something that has the text of an essay in it.
At the beginning of the next class, have them share these hybrid genres and reflect on the process of combining two different sets of conventions/purposes. You might also ask whether they feel their hybrid genre is rhetorically effective and if so/not, why?