Texts:
Bakhtin. Speech Genres and Other Late Essays
Bizzell. The Rhetorical Tradition
Bousquet. Tenured Bosses and Disposable Teachers
Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed
This graduate seminar on the history of rhetoric, rhetorical theory, and composition begins with Nietzsche’s devastating observation, “Is dialectics only a form of revenge in Socrates?” The answer to that question has shaped the contemporary reception of classical and modern rhetoric as well as composition studies and teaching in general—today’s educators strive for a democratic classroom by recognizing how meaning making is always-already rhetorical and political.
To that end, this course surveys the most influential texts in the field along with equally powerful non-canonical works. Readings explore how the rhetorical tradition informs present-day writing instruction and conceptions of language and human relations. Class discussions bridge literacy, rhetoric, politics, and the institutionalization of writing instruction so that by the semester’s end we’ll answer Nietzsche’s question with another: how are “rights,” “accountability,” and “responsible citizens” part of the problem?
Class meetings are discussion-oriented and open-ended. Coursework focuses on reading, writing, and discussion. No tests or exams.
Requirements: You are asked to respond online (WebCT) and on paper to the texts listed above as well as to supplementary readings distributed throughout the semester. Your main projects include leading a discussion on one of our readings and writing and presenting a final conference paper, which could be reworked in the future as a journal article. I grade holistically, after the semester ends and after I’ve read your work. I am most interested in your overall contribution and commitment to the seminar.
Journal Forum. Post an informal yet thoughtful response to the weekly readings on our WebCT page. This is a great opportunity for you to establish a meaningful dialogue with your classmates since they will post there, too. I won’t count words, but I’ll look for clear, convincing reflections in a conversational tone. Go beyond summarizing.
Analyses. You will be reading a great deal this semester and often asked to respond more formally than your WebCT posts yet less so than a full term paper. Though these analyses will vary in style and content they could very well figure into your seminar discussion and final paper.
Seminar Discussion. Early in the semester, pair up with a classmate and choose a reading from one of our texts. Begin thinking about how you will lead a discussion on that text. Additionally, locate one or two academic journal articles that address your text. You will distribute this supplemental reading to the class one week before your disussion date. Please come by my office before the discussion date to let me know your thoughts on the text, supplemental reading, and strategies for a good talk. Rather than lecture, you and your partner will find interesting and creative ways to get your classmates to situate the text historically, biographically, politically, pedagogically, and so on. The goal is for everyone to rehearse important approaches to the text as well as shed new light on its subject matter, relevance, and implications for the field.
Seminar Paper. This ten-page paper is a critical extension of an idea that we’ve examined during the semester. You will develop and defend your own thesis, based on what we’ve read and discussed, that focuses on key areas in which rhetoric plays an important role, such as education, science, politics, economics, art, literature, and film. You’ll present a section of the paper to the seminar and field questions from your classmates, just as you would at an academic conference. These papers could serve as drafts of journal articles.
Website.
Create a website and hypertext essay based on key areas in which rhetoric plays an important role (see above, "Seminar Paper"). Your hypertext essay will also be a version of our final paper.
Attendance, Participation, and Academic Honesty: This is a graduate seminar and attendance is absolutely necessary. Please do not come late to class, since repeated late arrivals will count as a full absence.
You cannot pass this course if you miss more than two classes, miss an assignment, or plagiarize.
Please feel free to come by my office to discuss your progress, our assignments, and any other concerns.
Fall 2007 Syllabus
Please note that work is due on the date listed below and assignments are subject to change. Not all readings and written assignments are represented.
8/29
Meet your classmates.
What is Rhetoric?
For next class: Read Bizzell. General Introduction, and choose a section and subsection (e.g., Medieval Rhetoric: The Later Middle Ages) that you find particularly interesting. Post a one-page response on WebCT. Discuss why that section/subsection is important to you. Make connections to contemporary issues. Read your classmates’ posts.
9/5
Syllabus review
Choose partners and readings for seminar discussion
Bizzell. General Introduction
WebCT Response
9/12
Antiquity
Bizzell. Classical Rhetoric: Introduction; Gorgias, Encomium of Helen; Isocrates, Against the Sophists; Plato, Gorgias
WebCT Response: Enter the dialectic. Whom do you side with, Plato or Gorgias? Why?
9/19
Antiquity cont’d
Bizzell. Aristotle, From Rhetoric
WebCT Response
9/26
Antiquity cont’d
Bizzell. Cicero, From De Oratore; Longinus, From On the Sublime; Quintilian, From Institutes of Oratory WebCT Response
10/3
Medieval Rhetoric
Bizzell. Medieval Rhetoric: Introduction; Augustine, On Christian Doctrine; Boethius, An Overview of the Structure of Rhetoric
WebCT Response
10/10
Renaissance Rhetoric
Bizzell. Renaissance Rhetoric: Introduction; Ramus, Arguments in Rhetoric Against Quintilian; Bacon, The Advancement of Learning
WebCT Response Website:
1.
A two-page typed proposal (this could serve as your website’s introduction) introducing your topic and suggesting why your project is important, relevant.
2. A five-text annotated bibliography (you will add more texts to the project as the semester progresses, but these five will help you focus in on the conversation surrounding your topic).
10/17
Enlightenment Rhetoric
Bizzell. Enlightenment Rhetoric: Introduction; Locke, From An Essay Concerning Human Understanding; Hume, Of the Standard of Taste; Vico, On the Study Methods of Our Time
WebCT Response
10/24
Enlightenment Rhetoric cont’d
Bizzell. Sheridan, A Course of Lectures on Elocution; Campbell, The Philosophy of Rhetoric; Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres
WebCt Response
10/31
19th-Century Rhetoric
Bizzell. Introduction; Whately, Elements of Rhetoric; Grimke, Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, Willard, Women and Temperance
WebCT Response
11/7
19th-Century Rhetoric cont’d
Bizzell. Bain, From English Composition and Rhetoric; Hill, From The Principles of Rhetoric; Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense
WebCT Response
11/14
Modern and Postmodern Rhetoric
Bizzell. Introduction; Bakhtin, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, The Problem of Speech Genres; Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives; Toulmin, The Uses of Argument; Foucault, From The Order of Discourse; Derrida, Signature Event Context
WebCT Response
11/21
Rhetoric, the Corporate University, and the Politics of Information
Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed
WebCT Response
11/28
Rhetoric, the Corporate University, and the Politics of Information cont’d
Bousquet, Tenured Bosses and Disposable Teachers
WebCT Response
