Language Majors Seminar
Term 1
M, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Why do some new media artifacts motivate belief and action while others fail do to do so? To answer this question, the seminar will examine the persuasive capacities of new media technologies and content. Students will learn how rhetorical criticism can be used to analyze new media, such as vine, gifs, facebook, meme macros, twitter, etc. Specific topics will include the adaptation of tropes and figures of speech to new media, the art and politics of brevity, and the digital reinvention of classical rhetorical concepts. The typical in-class experience will be participatory. Together, students will analyze, critique, and debate new media artifacts and course readings. For the final project, students will write an in-depth rhetorical analysis of a new media artifact.
