As many of you know, I am scheduled to teach my new course, “Rhetoric, Democracy, Advocacy,” in the upcoming (spring ’10) semester.  This will the be first time that the course is offered.  Unfortunately, the course was scheduled in conflict with the only other rhetoric course in our department…as a result, several students who would have liked to take both, cannot.  Worse yet, this means that my course has a low enrollment and, given the “budget crisis,” my be cancelled unless a few more students add the class. I posted quite a bit about the class a while back, but I thought I would post again in case there are any KU students out there interested in activist rhetorics and democracy.

Course Description

ENG 316: Rhetoric, Democracy, Advocacy The connection between rhetoric and democracy is an old one dating back to the origins of both concepts in Western traditions. Simply put rhetoric—the skilled use of argument and persuasive discourse—and democracy were seen as ways to replace violence as the primary means of governing and resolving conflict. This course argues that the intimate connections between rhetoric and democracy are critical to retain and reclaim for the health of democratic society and culture. American democracy has been defined not only by its institutions and Constitutional frameworks, but also by vibrant traditions of citizenship advocacy that have relentlessly stretched the boundaries of democratic freedoms, identities, and protections. A healthy democracy requires citizen advocates who are skilled in the analysis of public discourse and the rhetoric of advocacy. This course will be a sustained study of the theory and practice of advocacy rhetoric, primarily in the American context. In addition, this course will raise practical questions about what citizenship advocacy means in a context of increasing globalization and new media. 3 s.h. 3 c.h.

Course Rationale

Despite the historic connection between the rise of democracy and the rise of rhetoric in Western traditions, rarely do we study rhetoric as a “citizen discipline.” That is, while it is common to find courses training students in the “expert rhetorics” of corporations (public relations) and political campaigns, there is a general lack of courses that focus on the role of citizen advocacy as integral to the health of democratic cultures. As one of the missions of higher education is to train critical citizens capable of meeting the challenges and responsibilities of an ever changing world, this course seeks to make such training an explicit part of the English department’s curriculum.

Books for the Class

• Emergent Publics: An Essay on Social Movements and Democracy (Semaphore Series)
• The Rhetoric of Agitation and Control
• Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists
• Rhetorical Democracy: Discursive Practices of Civic Engagement
• Rules for Radicals
• Activist Rhetorics and American Higher Education, 1885-1937

So, there ya have it!  Come one, come all!

Welcome to the home of Composition and Rhetoric at Kutztown University. We hope that this site will provide a portal into our composition program, our course offerings, and the broader field of Composition and Rhetoric. And, yes, I do realize that this post is the same post as the one on the home page. Well, it’s not anymore since I wrote this. And this. Now it’s different. A revision of sorts.

While many people may associate Composition and Rhetoric with first-year writing courses, the five paragraph essay, or strategies for arguing, the scope of Composition and Rhetoric is both deeper and more vast than these narrow categories. In fact, these narrow categories for understanding Composition-even College Composition-can inhibit an inquiry into writing that is increasingly important and necessary in the complex world of the 21st Century.To be sure, developing both confidence and competence in the conventions of “academic writing” is crucial for one’s college and professional career. However, these conventions are not set in stone like a mathematic formula (indeed, we would argue that even mathematic formulas are not set in stone!). Rather, one’s ability to communicate effectively in today’s environment requires a deeper understanding the complex rhetorical situation in which we find ourselves and the “available means” we have at our disposal to be heard above the clutter.

To make the case more concretely, today’s careers place a premium on being able to communicate effectively through writing. A recent report by the National Commission on Writing found that top business leaders around the country see effective writing directly connected to being successful in today’s workplace. While writing has always been an important in the workplace, today’s business leaders note that today’s high-tech, globalized workplace makes writing all that more important.

But the importance of writing is not limited to job prospects. We would argue that writing is instrumental to the health of our democracy. Active citizens need to be able to analyze arguments and make arguments in the public sphere. In addition to more traditional “town halls” today’s public sphere is a literate one-one that takes place on the Internet, on social networking sites, and in the blogosphere. These emerging modes of communication represent the “new writing” in a globalized, interconnected world. Today’s democracy needs citizens who can critically navigate and engage in these public spheres.

In short, one may encounter the field of Composition and Rhetoric for the first time in their College Composition course during their first semester at Kutztown. However, inquiry into writing should carry on all throughout one’s college career and professional life. This is one space for that on-going conversation.