Studies in Rhetoric
Term 1
MWF, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
In Rhetoric, Revolution, & Dissent students will learn about how mass-movements use and design persuasive messages, images, artifacts, and events.
Course readings will include:
1.) primary documents, such as manifestos, memes, organizational programs, speeches, and websites, drawn from both recent movements (e. g. Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and Idle No More) and more distant historical events (e. g. the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the French Revolution);
2.) a survey of rhetorical and argumentative criticism; and
3.) a survey of visual design. By assessing both more and less successful persuasive tactics, strategies, and genres, the course will teach students how communication strategies help to stimulate and maintain resistance and revolt (or not). Students will complete a series of assignments that entail analyzing the rhetoric of a mass movement’s primary documents and artifacts, and then creating a final project that visualizes the movement’s means of persuasion.
