Historically, happiness has been philosophized in Western Society as an independent pursuit of training one’s mind and actions (Aristotle, as cited in Rackham, n.d.; Dalai Lama & Cutler, 1998). The belief that people make life choices based upon their desire to achieve “happiness” has been ingrained in religious, academic, and capitalistic teachings. The purpose of this thesis is to offer writing instructors background knowledge on global, communal, and academic happiness initiatives to be able to teach, or include pedagogical practices, from a course I designed titled Writing and Re-Writing Happiness, and in doing so move from an individualistic to a communal rhetoric of happiness (Belli, 2012; International Society for Ecology and Culture, 2013). My Writing and Re-Writing Happiness course is built upon five themes to foster a sustainable, yet fluid, happiness practice and pedagogy within academia. The five themes are: value all talents, create equality, care for natural resources, stop trauma, and practice well-being (Van Gelder, 2014). For the purposes of this course design, I define “happiness” as a complex, culturally situated phenomenon commonly known as a life filled with enjoyment, fulfilment, and connection to one’s self, one’s communities, and natural resources. I use this vast concept of happiness as a topic for a first year writing course because I believe it is a rich, timely, and important topic for students to engage with while they learn the skills expected for this level course: audience awareness, purpose driven research, multimedia projects, reflective inquiry, and analysis of cultures and disciplines. Therefore, this is a course that teaches writing while journeying through a global, sustainable rhetoric of happiness.
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