Coalitional literacies of digital safety and solidarity: A white paper on nextGEN international listserv

nextGEN, a listserv and advocacy collective founded and maintained by graduate students across the international field of writing studies, 1 kairotically begun in response to controversial interactions on the WPA-Listserv in March 2018 (Laughner, 2019; “Where We Are,” 2020; Beare, 2021). Following the release of Vershawn Ashanti Young's 2019 CCCC Call for Papers, the backlash on WPA-L discussed, and in many ways perpetuated, the on-going racialized, linguistic discrimination within writing studies, writ large. As graduate students contributed to these conversations, this situation clearly illustrated their systemic dismissal from disciplinary conversations. In this white paper, we highlight four tactical strategies used by nextGEN since its inception to demonstrate the importance of coalitional literacies in digital advocacy spaces. Finally, we conclude by briefly looking forward to future challenges and possibilities for the next generation of nextGEN. Overall, we offer this argument as a “white paper” because it is our–the authors–understanding and situating of the systemic problems that defined the emergence and early work of nextGEN. 2 We offer readers a specific history, scholarly framework, and model for building and sustaining an international listserv and advocacy space for and by graduate students through coalitional literacies of digital safety and solidarity.