Introducing Composition and Rhetoric to new graduate students in English studies is no easy task, given the breadth and depth involved in covering not one but two
interrelated fields–one of which, rhetoric, is among the oldest in the
humanities. (Actually, there really are three fields: composition, rhetoric, and this relatively recent academic enterprise called “comp/rhet.”) Such an introduction will nonetheless be made manageable through a particular thematic focus: namely a look at the historical development of one of these fields’ central projects—the education of an
ethically charged, discursively empowered citizen body. From its inception in Classical Greece to its various manifestations today, the teaching of
rhetoric and writing has been informed often by an imagined telos of
democracy through civic discourse, a necessary condition for which is the
educating of rhetorically-adept citizens who can seek out and convince others
of truth (whether that is to be understood as a contingent,
socially-constructed “truth” or a universal “Truth” to be discerned through
dialectic or rational inquiry). We will follow and analyze that project as it
has adapted to evolving social, material, institutional, theoretical, cultural,
and technological conditions.
Since one
function of 625 is to help give students some disciplinary foundations to work from in their concentrations, much of the coverage here will be canonical, with a heavy emphasis initially on classical rhetoric (with, of course, interrogations of such canonicity). And, as a complement to that, we will routinely examine the ways in which the theories and arguments that are significant to C/R overlap with, depart from, and/or run parallel to those from other concentrations in English studies (particularly the others that this department focuses on— Creative Writing, Literary Studies, and Cultural
Studies).
No prior knowledge of composition and rhetoric is required, but it will certainly serve as an effective foundation, as will previous study across each of the concentrations.
Assignments:
The course will involve students in a combination of collective inquiries and individualized scholarship; we will study the material and explore the course’s thematic focus through lectures, discussions, presentations, online dialogues, and sustained scholarly projects. Much in-class time will be devoted to seminar-style discussions, especially during the first half of the course. Students will have common readings to write about through a series of short public papers (30%), as well as identifiable disciplinary areas, theorists, methodologies, and schools of thought to define and present orally to the class as individuals (15%). Students will participate in the 625 colloquium, wherein they will deliver a short presentation on a theme common to all the 625 courses this semester (15%). Finally, students will produce a sustained major research project; while creative options will be considered and discussed, the traditional scholarly, thesis-driven article will be a likely choice for many (40%).
Student Learning
Outcomes:
* General knowledge of
the history of rhetoric, composition, and “comp/rhet” as interrelated
fields/disciplines. Includes an awareness of primary connections to and shared
concerns with other fields of English studies.
* Introductory awareness of the (many, many)
areas of research and practice under the comp/rhet umbrella. Ability to see
relations among and between those areas and to locate one’s work accordingly.
* Conceptual
understanding and practice in graduate-level scholarly writing and oral
presentation in comp/rhet.
* Ability to process and produce appropriate
scholarly material independently and collaboratively in an academic context,
with a sense of shared responsibility and obligation.
Readings:
In addition to a collaboratively compiled set of
readings and various PDF documents posted to our course site, the following are
likely texts for purchase. (But please do not
purchase them in advance, as this list may change.)
Bizzell, Patricia and Bruce Herzberg, eds.
The Rhetorical Tradition. 2nd edition. Bedford St. Martin’s, 2001.
McLeod, Susan. Writing Program Administration. Parlor Press, 2007.
Ridolfo, Jim, Sheridan, David, and Anthony
Michel. The Available Means of
Persuasion: Mapping a Theory and Pedagogy of Multimodal Public Rhetoric
Parlor Press, 2012.
Ryder, Phillis. Rhetorics for Community Action: Public Writing and Writing Publics.
Lexington Books, 2010.