Rhetoric from the Margins

Catalog description

Political speeches, journalism, graffiti, novels—whose voices do we hear most often? We live in a culture where the right to speak is woven into our identity through the first amendment, but who has access to speech, given the institutions and structures of our culture? This course will take an historical look at rhetoric to consider what voices we have heard most often and why. From ancient Greece to the early days of the US to more contemporary moments, what barriers to speech and visibility have persisted? How has gender, ability, race, or class affected who can speak and whose voices have been heard? From Aspasia and Wollstonecraft to Anzaldua and hooks, in this course, we will read a wide variety of rhetorical texts from both historical perspectives and more contemporary settings to engage questions of marginality. Prerequisite: ENG 204 or permission of the instructor. (Offered every odd fall term)