Instructor: Sung Ohm
English 101: Section 115
Spring Semester 2005
Course Description
A Rhetoric of Possibilities
"The Greeks felt that persuasion could color our experiences and even beguile us, as if by magic, to sway us toward particular ends. The Ancient Greeks began a systematic study of this phenomenon in order to understand its influence, and to tame it and control it. In so doing, they stripped it of its magic, and turned it into an art. More specifically, they developed a vocabulary by which they could meaningfully interpret their social world. This vocabulary, like any vocabulary, reified the concept and gave it a substance that could be studied and understood."
-Omar Swartz, The Rise of Rhetoric and its Intersections with Contemporary Critical Thought.
In many respects, the rise of democracy created the need for rhetoric. The Ancient Greeks understood well that those who had knowledge and control of rhetoric also had cultural power or cultural capital. For the Ancient Greeks, rhetoric functioned to keep the elite in power. While democracy promised equitable conditions, most people didn't have access to rhetorical skills or education so their ability to participate in the democracy was limited. Ultimately, rhetoric functioned as a way to shape the historical consciousness of an entire civilization--or what the Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci, called hegemony. Hence, despite the promises of democracy, the Greeks continued to have vast inequalities-the elite were accumulating a vast amount of wealth from the exploitation of the masses, slavery was seen as a natural condition (of course, reserved for only certain people), and women, non-Athenians, & non-Greeks were relegated as second class citizens, being denied any political voice.
Why is rhetoric important to us today? Why study it here? If we can take something from the Ancient Greeks, we might begin to recognize how people were controlled through language. Those who had the power to determine and define concepts through language had the power to control the masses. As we think about what the implications are for us, consider, for the Greeks, rhetoric functioned as way to limit democracy. It limited it because rhetoric wasn't available for everyone. It was tightly controlled. As long as a select group of people have access to rhetorical training, and others are excluded from such learning, democracy is extremely limited and it serves self-interested members who want to maintain their hegemony over others. It is an extremely limited democracy, and as history has show, limited democracies tend to always face tensions--consider the racial strife of the civil rights era and how it continues to manifest itself today.
Having a greater grasp of rhetoric means that one must think critically of how language functions. A rhetorical understanding also means understanding possibilities, and not being confined by ideas and concepts that have been defined for us. It is possible simply because we can see the constructedness of language and engage with it. So this class will be about a rhetoric of possibilities. What I'm asking you to do and training you to do is to think rhetorically, to think critically--in other words, to think for yourself. As the historian Howard Zinn notes that we often think we have choices when in fact, our choices are limited. "We have the kinds of choices that are given in multiple-choice tests, where you can choose a, b, c, or d. But e, f, g, and h are not even listed […]. In debates on the military budget there are heated arguments about whether to spend $300 billion or $290 billion. A proposal to spend $100 billion (thus making $200 billion available for human needs) is like the e or f in a multiple-choice test--it is missing. To propose zero billion makes you a candidate for a mental institution." This class will be about not only understanding our rhetorical situation, but also about exploring viable possibilities which are not often discussed. Ultimately, this class will focus on thinking critically about possibilities, and engaging rhetorically to make those possibilities viable.
& Assignment:
The following links are downloadable versions of the printed syllabus, reading schedule, and assignment sheets. You may view them in either as a website (HTML) or as an Adobe pdf (portable document format) file. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view all pdf files. If you need Acrobat, a free version is available. Please see the Adobe link in the "Class Related Materials" section below.
Syllabus:
- Course description and policy: [pfd]
Schedule:
Conference: Group conference schedule for September 20-24th.
- Assignment 1: The Textual Analysis Essay [pdf]
- Assignment 2: The Text-in-Context Essay [pdf]
- Assignment 3: The Cultural Analysis Essay [pdf]
- Directions ow to add to the class listserv [link]
- Address of listserv: compositionclass@listserv.arizona.edu
Documents on Analysis:
- Analytical Thesis Statements [pdf]
- Claims & Evidence [link]
- Sample Student Essay (password protected) [pdf]
Documents on Research:
- Sample Student Essay on The Communist Manifesto [pdf]
- Annotated Bibliography: A sample [pdf]
- Works Cited Page: A Sample [pdf]
- Library Tutorial [link]
- Model Paragraphs: In-class examples (Presented Oct. 28) [pdf]
- Sample Student Essay 2: "'Awestruck':
Freedom of the Press Is Not So Free"
(on-line viewing only) [pdf]
Other Materials:
Peer Critique: (pdf) Comment sheet for responding to your peers' writings.
Conference: Group conference schedule for September 20-24th.
Academic Journals: A brief description of expectations for the journals.
Journal List: A list of journal entries required for class.
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader: To view many of the files, you will need to download Acrobat Reader. Acrobat Reader is free to download from Adobe's website.
UA Library: Link to the University Library's main website.
Electronic Reserve (University of Arizona Library): Find articles and reading for class. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it, please download the free version.
