MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

The success of a writing center depends on the diversity and lack of authority provided by its tutors, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of all people, can explain why. In a number of his Sherlock Holmes stories, most notably, A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, Holmes and his partner, Dr. Watson, rely on the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of street urchins whom the narrator calls “a dozen dirty and ragged little street Arabs.” The famous detectives call upon the Irregulars when research requires unconventional methods. “There’s more work to be got out of one of those little beggars,” Holmes exclaims, “than out of a dozen of the force.” He reiterates that “the mere sight of an official-looking person seals men’s lips. These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp as needles, too; all they want is organization.” Doyle certainly frames the Irregulars in ways that are racist and classist; however, their subversion of authority is precisely what makes them indispensable to solving cases, and, as I argue in this paper, an illuminating model for writing centers and composition classrooms. The Baker Street Irregulars share a number of qualities with tutors. Like the Irregulars, tutors are chronically underpaid, underemployed, and unrecognized by the academy. Their lack of authority allows them to reside in liminal spaces—outside the classroom but alongside clients. This paper shows that this unconventional position is actually attractive to students because it encourages collaborative work away from the classroom and “the official-looking person” in charge there. Utilizing queer theory, as well as usage statistics and interviews, this paper suggests that institutions should recognize the tutors’ unconventionality by encouraging teachers to build writing center visits into their assignments, to use the tutors’ lack of authority as a collaborative spark and confidence-builder.