Rhetoric And Pedagogy

"The authors address the current racial tensions in North America as a result of public outcries and antiracist activism both on the streets and in schools. To create a willingness among teachers and students in writing, rhetoric, and communication courses to address matters of race and racism"--Provided by publisher.

Style: An Introduction to History, Theory, Research, and Pedagogy conducts an in-depth investigation into the long and complex evolution of style in the study of rhetoric and writing. The theories, research methods, and pedagogies covered here offer a conception of style as more than decoration or correctness—views that are still prevalent in many college settings as well as in public discourse.

Featuring roughly sixty specially commissioned essays by an international cast of leading rhetoric experts from North America, Europe, and Great Britain, the Handbook will offer readers a comprehensive topical and historical survey of the theory and practice of rhetoric from ancient Greece and Rome through the Middle Ages and Enlightenment up to the present day.

What distinguishes the study of rhetoric from other pursuits in the liberal arts? From what realms of human existence and expression, of human history, does such study draw its defining character? What, in the end, should be the purposes of rhetorical inquiry? And amid so many competing accounts of discourse, power, and judgment in the contemporary world, how might scholars achieve these purposes through the attitudes and strategies that animate their work? Rethinking Rhetorical Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy: The Living Art of Michael C. Leff offers answers to these questions by introducing the central insights of one of the most innovative and prolific rhetoricians of the twentieth century, Michael C. Leff. This volume charts Leff ’s decades-long development as a scholar, revealing both the variety of topics and the approach that marked his oeuvre, as well as his long-standing critique of the disciplinary assumptions of classical, Hellenistic, renaissance, modern, and postmodern rhetoric. Rethinking Rhetorical Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy includes a synoptic introduction to the evolution of Leff ’s thought from his time as a graduate student in the late 1960s to his death in 2010, as well as specific commentary on twenty-four of his most illuminating essays and lectures.

In this precise and provocative treatise, Julie Jung augments the understanding and teaching of revision by arguing that the process should entail changing attitudes rather than simply changing texts. Revisionary Rhetoric, Feminist Pedagogy, and Multigenre Texts proposes and demonstrates alternative ways of reading, writing, and teaching that hear silences in such a way as to generate personal, pedagogical, and professional revisions. As both a challenge to prevailing revision pedagogies and an elaboration of contemporary feminist rhetorics, the volume encourages students and instructors to examine their identities as scholars of rhetoric and composition and to question how and why revision is taught. Jung analyzes feminist texts to identify a revisionary rhetoric that is, at its core, most concerned with creating a space in which to engage productively with issues of difference. This synthesis of feminist theory and revision studies yields a pedagogically useful definition of feminist rhetoric, through which Jung examines the insights afforded by multigenre texts in various related contexts: the academic essay, the discipline of rhetoric and composition studies, feminist composition, and the subfields of English studies including rhetoric and composition, literature, and creative writing. Jung illustrates how multigenre texts demand innovative methods of inquiry because they do not fit the conventions of any single genre. Because genre is inextricably tied to the construction of social identity, she explains, multigenre texts also offer a means for understanding and revising disciplinary identity. Boldly making a case for the revisionary power of multigenre texts, Jung retheorizes revision as a process of disrupting textual clarity so that differences can be identified, contended with, and perhaps understood. Revisionary Rhetoric, Feminist Pedagogy, and Multigenre Texts makes great strides towards defining feminist rhetoric and ascertaining how revision can be theorized, not just practiced. Jung also provides a multigenre epilogue that explores the usefulness of reconceiving revision as a progression towards wholeness rather than perfection.

To provide a view of the history of western rhetoric, this volume presents original articles by a number of world-renowned scholars representing different countries and varying viewpoints. In discussing the status of the historical perspectives on rhetoric, these international scholars also present a tribute to James J. Murphy, whose scholarship and service did much to shape the field. The book will introduce new insights into western European rhetoric and its connections with English rhetoric.

Connors provides a history of composition and its pedagogical approaches to form, genre, and correctness. He shows where many of the today’s practices and assumptions about writing come from, and he translates what our techniques and theories of teaching have said over time about our attitudes toward students, language and life. Connors locates the beginning of a new rhetorical tradition in the mid-nineteenth century, and from there, he discusses the theoretical and pedagogical innovations of the last two centuries as the result of historical forces, social needs, and cultural shifts. This important book proves that American composition-rhetoric is a genuine, rhetorical tradition with its own evolving theria and praxis. As such it is an essential reference for all teachers of English and students of American education.

From the beginning, rhetoric has been a productive and practical art aimed at preparing citizens to participate in communal life. Possibilities for this participation are continually evolving in light of cultural and technological changes. The Available Means of Persuasion: Mapping a Theory and Pedagogy of Multimodal Public Rhetoric explores the ways that public rhetoric has changed due to emerging technologies that enable us to produce, reproduce, and distribute compositions that integrate visual, aural, and alphabetic elements. David M. Sheridan, Jim Ridolfo, and Anthony J. Michel argue that to exploit such options fully, rhetorical theory and pedagogy need to be reconfigured.