Public Rhetorics for Social Change

Course: Course Websites:

Holmes

English 8900 / Section 005 / Mon. 9:00 11:30 AM / Sparks 310 http://publicrhetorics.wordpress.com (syllabus, schedule, assignments) http://d2l.gsu.edu Desire 2 Learn (D2L) (readings, discussion board) Dr. Ashley J. Holmes / GCB 915 / aholmes@gsu.edu / 404-413-5831 Tues. & Thurs. 1:30 2:30 PM & by appointment During office hours, I am also available by phone or email. The best method of reaching me outside office hours is via email.

Instructor:

Office Hours: Availability:

The course syllabus provides a general plan for the course; deviations may be necessary. Activism begins with a commitment to breaking down the sociological barriers between universities and communities. . . . I am asking for a deeper consideration of the civic purpose of our positions in the academy, of what we do with our knowledge, for whom, and by what means. ~ Ellen Cushman, The Rhetorician as an Agent of Social Change Course Description & Objectives In this version of English 8900, Public Rhetorics for Social Change, we will consider the ways in which citizens, activists, scholars, teachers, and students use writing and rhetoric in public contexts to address injustices, collaborate with community groups, and advocate for social change. We will begin the course by exploring theories of the public sphere, publics, and counterpublics, and we will discuss how these theories intersect with the work of rhetoric. Our course readings will cover a range of issues related to public rhetoric, including democracy, civic engagement, activism, community literacy, social movements, digital media, and publishing. The final weeks of the semester will be devoted to pedagogical applicationspublic writing, service learning, and activist pedagogiesas well as how the course concepts might translate within the work of writing program administration. In addition to our weekly readings and discussions, you will be invited to develop with me and your peers a public project that will involve us, individually or collaboratively, taking some public action and/or moving toward social change. Through course assignments and experiences, students will do the following: Read critically and analyze a variety of essays, articles, books, and other sources concerned with public rhetorics, Identify and discuss the personal and professional exigencies, responsibilities, risks, and rewards of engaging in public outreach and/or activist agendas, Consider ways for implementing public writing, service learning, and/or activist pedagogies, Post weekly summaries and questions for assigned readings, Take public action and/or move toward social change through a class-defined public project, Conduct traditional, academic research and explore more public forms of research, Compose and present a final project that serves your professional and personal needs. Page 1 of 11 Fall 2013

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Required Texts & Digital Access Ackerman, John M., and David J. Coogan, eds. The Public Work of Rhetoric: Citizen-Scholars and Civil Engagement. Clemson: University of South Carolina Press, 2013. Print. Flower, Linda. Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2008. Print. Kahn, Seth, and Jonghwa Lee, eds. Activism and Rhetoric: Theories and Contexts for Political Engagement. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print. In addition to these required print textbooks, you will be assigned a number of readings that will be accessible for printing, downloading, and/or viewing on our course D2L website. I expect you to have print or electronic access to the set of readings assigned on each class day. Course Assignments & Grading Scale Summary & Questions: Weekly Discussion Board Submission 25% Learning how to concisely articulate a writers argument is an important skill that you should hone during your graduate studies. To that end, you will submit a weekly post to our class discussion board on Desire 2 Learn (D2L) in which you briefly summarize one writers argument and pose a question or two about that assigned reading. Here are the requirements of the assignment: Choose 1 assigned reading. Summarize the main argument of the reading in no more than 200 words. Pose 1-2 questions you have about the reading, or the application of its ideas, that we might discuss in class in more detail. Pose your questions in no more than 50 words. Your total submission should not exceed 250 words. I am asking you to keep to this maximum for two reasons: 1) It is often harder to write a brief response and boil down the ideas of an argument, so this is a skill you should practice. You also will have many professional contexts that require you to keep within a short number of words (proposals for conferences or publications, for instance). 2) I want to be mindful of your time and the work involved in writing these responses. The 250 word maximum helps communicate my expectation for how much labor you should devote to this weekly task. Your weekly post is due 24 hours in advance of our class meeting, so Sundays by 9:00 a.m., though you can certainly submit any time prior to that. Post your summary and questions to that weeks discussion board on D2L. Choose the Discussions link on D2L, and select the appropriate Readings for date. Then compose a new post to add to our forum. Please know that your post will be viewable to all class members. You are welcome to read and respond to each others posts, if youd like. You may miss one summary and questions submission for the semester without penalty. Public Project 35% During the first few weeks of the semester, we will devote a portion of our class time to discussing how we, individually and/or collaboratively, might enact some of the issues we will be discussing through the course readings. This public project may take many Page 2 of 11 Fall 2013

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forms, but I would like for us to consider ways that we might take public action and/or move toward social change. One of the major challenges of this project will simply be defining the task at hand. As the project takes shape, you will gain a better sense of what you need to contribute for this component of the course. Final Project & Presentation 40% Your final project in this course will be something you produce to serve your scholarly and/or pedagogical needs. This project might take the form of a portion of a thesis or dissertation chapter, a pedagogical project or proposal, a scholarly paper suitable for conference, or a public instantiation of a scholarly project. Whatever type of project you choose, you must submit 1-2 page typed proposal with your intentions. The proposal is due at the start of class on October 14th; the final project, along with a presentation to the class, is due on the last day of class, December 9th. The grading scale for this class is as follows: A+ 97100%, A 9396%, A- 9092%, B+ 87 89%, B 8386%, B- 8082%, C+ 7779%, C 7376%, C- 7072%, D+ 6769%, D 63 66%, D- 6062%, F 59%0%. Course Policies Attendance Policy & Expectations for Participation Daily attendance and participation are essential to your success in this course, and I expect you to attend all class sessions, arrive prepared, and be on time. I will take attendance daily at the start of class. However, in the event that you cannot make it to class, please be sure you understand my attendance policy as follows. If a student misses more than 2 classes (2 weeks), he or she may risk failing the course. The midpoint for the semester is October 15th. Students wishing to withdraw should do so before this date in order to receive a grade of W for the course. Late Work Course assignments are due at the specified time on the date stated on each assignment sheet. After that, the grade drops one third of a letter grade per calendar day, which includes days that we do not meet for class. If there are extenuating circumstances that warrant an extension, you must ask for approval from me in advance of the due date. I do not accept late submissions for weekly reading journal assignments. Submission Policies Assignments are due at the start of class, unless otherwise noted, and will be considered late if submitted after the start of class. You may be asked to submit your work in print or electronic forms (through D2L or email). Please follow all stated instructions for how, when, and where to submit your assignments for this course. Make-Up Examination Policy Students are required to attend the university-scheduled exam period for this course. I will allow make-up examinations only for students who have more than two university-scheduled exams within a 24-hour period. If this applies to you, you need to let me know as soon as possible, and no later than one week prior to the final examination date, so that we can make the necessary arrangements. Page 3 of 11 Fall 2013

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Academic Honesty As members of the academic community, students are expected to recognize and uphold standards of intellectual and academic integrity. The university assumes as a basic and minimum standard of conduct in academic matters that students be honest and that they submit for credit only the products of their own efforts. According to GSUs handbook, dishonorable conduct includes plagiarism, cheating, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, and multiple submissions of your academic work. For specific examples and definitions of each of these forms of conduct, please see the Policy on Academic Honesty, section 409 in the Faculty Handbook: http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwfhb/fhb.html. Course Assessment Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State. Upon completing the course, please take time to fill out the online course evaluation. Accommodations Students who wish to request accommodation for a disability may do so by registering with the Office of Disability Services. Students may only be accommodated upon issuance by the Office of Disability Services of a signed Accommodation Plan and are responsible for providing a copy of that plan to instructors of all classes in which accommodations are sought. Campus Resources The Writing Studio GCB 976, Phone # 404-413-5840, http://www.writingstudio.gsu.edu/ The purpose of the Writing Studio is to enhance the writing instruction that happens in academic classrooms, by providing undergraduate and graduate students with an experienced reader who engages them in conversation about their writing assignments and ideas, and familiarizes them with audience expectations and academic genre conventions. We focus on the rhetorical aspects of texts, and provide one-on-one, student-centered teaching that corresponds to each writers composing process, especially invention and revising. We do not provide editing or proofreading services. We aim to create better writers, not perfect papers, so we address works-in-progress in tutorials, and not finished texts. Course Schedule Please note that this course schedule is subject to changes. In the event of a change, I will notify you via email, post an announcement on D2L, and/or make an announcement during class time. Public Work = The Public Work of Rhetoric, edited by Ackerman and Coogan Community Literacy = Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement, by Linda Flower Activism = Activism and Rhetoric, edited by Kahn and Lee D2L = reading is accessible from course Desire 2 Learn website (http://d2l.gsu.edu)

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Aug 26th Public Rhetoric and Social Change Ellen Cushman, The Rhetorician as an Agent of Social Change, 7-28 (D2L, 21 pgs) Sept 2nd, holiday No class Sept 9 Theories and Definitions of Public(s) Total pages: 109 Warner, Publics and Counterpublics, 65-124 (D2L, 59 pgs) Habermas, Institutions of the Public Sphere, 31-42 (D2L, 11 pgs) Fraser, Rethinking the Public Sphere, 56-80 (D2L, 24 pgs) Coogan and Ackerman, Introduction 1-16 (Public Work, 15 pgs) Sept 16 Democracy and Public Rhetoric Total pages: 76 Hauser, Civil Society and the Principle of the Public Sphere, 19-40 (D2L, 21 pgs) Bruner, The Public Work of Critical Political Communication, 56-75 (Public Work, 19 pgs) Cintron, Democracy and Its Limitations, 98-116 (Public Work, 18 pgs) Miller, Should We Name the Tools? 19-38 (Public Work, 18 pgs) Sept 23 Civic Engagement and Place Total pages: 94 Rai, Power, Publics, and the Rhetorical Uses of Democracy 39-55 (Public Work, 16 pgs) Ackerman, Rhetorical Engagement in the Cultural Economies of Cities, 76-97 (Public Work, 21 pgs) Fleming, The Placelessness of Political Theory, City of Rhetoric 19-35 (D2L, 16 pgs) Dewey, Search for the Great Community, The Public and Its Problems 143-184 (D2L, 41 pgs) Sept 30 Community Literacy and Local Publics Total pages: 87 required / 10 recommended Flower, Prologue and Part 1, 1-72 (Community Literacy, 72 pgs) Jolliffe, The Community Literacy Advocacy Project, 267-282 (Public Work, 15 pgs) Recommended additional reading: Long, Definitions and Distinctions, 14-24 (D2L, 10 pgs)

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Oct 7 Community Literacy and Local Publics Total pages: 96 Flower, Part 2, 73-152 (Community Literacy, 79 pgs) Juergensmeyer and Miller, Mediating Differences, 229-246 (Public Work, 17 pgs) Oct 14 Community Literacy and Local Publics Total pages: 87 required / 15 recommended Flower, Part 3, 153-240 (Community Literacy, 87 pgs) Final project proposal due : 1-2 pages typed and printed to submit at the start of class. Recommended additional reading: Grabill, On Being Useful, 193-208 (Public Work, 15 pgs) Oct 21 New Media, Social Media, and Community Publishing Total pages: 95 required / 17 recommended George and Mathieu, A Place for the Dissident Press in a Rhetorical Education, 247266 (Public Work, 19 pgs) Anderson, Global Street Papers and Homeless [Counter]publics, 76-103 (D2L, 27 pgs) Gladwell, Small Change, (D2L, 12 pgs) Ryder, Publics 2.0, Rhetorics for Community Action 199-236 (D2L, 37 pgs) Recommended additional reading: Cushman and Green, Knowledge Work with the Cherokee Nation, 175-192 (Public Work, 17 pgs) Oct. 28 Public Intellectuals and Activist Research Total pages: 86 Gramsci, The Intellectuals, The Prison Notebooks 3-23 (D2L, 20 pgs) Alinsky, The Purpose, Rules for Radicals 3-23 (D2L, 20 pgs) Artz, Speaking Truth to Power, 47-55 (Activism, 8 pgs) Kahn, (Re)Politicizing the Writing Process, 91-99 (Activism, 8 pgs) Lee, Go Back to America and Let Them Know, 25-37 (Activism, 12 pgs) Chvez Counter-Public Enclaves and Understanding the Function of Rhetoric in Social Movement Coalition-Building, 1-18 (D2L, 18 pgs) Nov 4 Activism in Higher Education & Activist Pedagogies Total pages: 72 Cushman, The Public Intellectual, Service Learning, and Activist Research, 328-336 (D2L, 8 pgs) Edley and Lozano-Reich, Democracy and the Academy, 125-136 (Activism, 11 pgs) Braun, Against Decorous Civility, 137-146 (Activism, 9 pgs) Mahoney, You Cant Get There From Here, 147-158 (Activism, 11 pgs) Page 6 of 11 Fall 2013

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Ray et al., Practicing Democracy, 161-169 (Activism, 8 pgs) Deblasis and Grettano, Breaking News, 170-178 (Activism, 8 pgs) Jones, Activism in the Ivory Tower, 179-189 (Activism, 10 pgs) Pason, Reclaiming Activism for Students, 190-197 (Activism, 7 pgs)

Holmes

Nov 11 Public Writing & Activism in Composition Studies Total pages: 84 Wells, Rogue Cops and Health Care, (D2L, 16 pgs) Weisser, Rethinking Public Writing, Moving Beyond Academic Discourse, 90-115 (D2L, 25 pgs) Welch, Aint Nobodys Business? Living Room, 28-47 (D2L, 19 pgs) Wilkey, Activism in Composition Studies and the Politics of Social Change, Texts of Consequence, 1-24 (D2L, 24 pgs) Nov 18 Service Learning Total pages: 80 required / 21 recommended Deans, English Studies and Public Service, Writing Partnerships (D2L, 20 pgs) Herzberg, Community Service and Critical Teaching, (D2L, 9 pgs) Coogan, Service Learning and Social Change, 667-693 (D2L, 26 pgs) Cushman, Sustainable Service Learning Programs, (D2L, 25 pgs) Recommended additional reading: Morton, The Irony of Service, (D2L, 21 pgs) Dec 2 Public and Activist Writing Program Administration Total pages: 76 required / 17 recommended Adler-Kassner, Working from a Point of Principle, The Activist WPA (D2L, 35 pgs) Parks and Goldblatt, Writing beyond the Curriculum, 584-606 (D2L, 22 pgs) Wolf, Swiencicki, and Fosen, Students, Faculty, and Sustainable WPA Work, Going Public 140-59 (D2L, 19 pgs) Recommended additional reading: Bergmann, The Writing Center as a Site for Engagement, Going Public 160-177 (D2L, 17 pgs) Dec 9 Presentations Final projects due

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Bibliography

Holmes

The bibliographic list of sources below includes full citation information for all the assigned readings on the schedule, as well as additional listings for recommended additional reading on course-related topics. Ackerman, John M., and David J. Coogan, eds. The Public Work of Rhetoric: Citizen-Scholars and Civil Engagement. Clemson: University of South Carolina Press, 2013. Print. Adler-Kassner, Linda. The Activist WPA: Changing Stories about Writing and Writers. Logan: Utah State UP, 2008. Print. Alinsky, Saul D. Rules for Radicals. New York: Random House, 1971. Print. Anderson, Erin. Global Street Papers and Homeless [Counter]publics: Rethinking the Technologies of Community Publishing. Reflections: A Journal of Writing, Service Learning and Community Literacy 10.1 (2010): 76-103. Asen, Robert. Imagining in the Public Sphere. Philosophy and Rhetoric 35.4 (2002): 345-67. Chaput, Catherine. Inside the Teaching Machine: Rhetoric and the Globalization of the U.S. Public Research University. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2008. Print. Chvez, Karma R. Counter-Public Enclaves and Understanding the Function of Rhetoric in Social Movement Coalition-Building. Communication Quarterly 59.1 (2011): 1-18. Coogan, David. Community Literacy as Civic Dialogue. Community Literacy Journal 1.1 (2006): ---. Service Learning and Social Change: The Case for Materialist Rhetoric. College Composition and Communication 57.4 (2006): 667-93. Couture, Barbara, and Thomas Kent, eds. The Private, the Public, and the Published: Reconciling Private Lives and Public Rhetoric. Logan: Utah State UP, 2004. Print. Cushman, Ellen. Sustainable Service Learning Programs. College Composition and Communication. 54.1 (2002): 40-65. ---. The Public Intellectual, Service Learning, and Activist Research. College English 61.3 (1999): 328-36. ---. The Rhetorician as an Agent of Social Change. College Composition and Communication 47.1 (Fall 1996): 7-28. Danisch, Robert. Pragmatism, Democracy, and the Necessity of Rhetoric. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 2007. Print. Page 8 of 11 Fall 2013

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Deans, Thomas. Writing Partnerships: Service-Learning in Composition. Urbana: NCTE, 2000. Print. Deans, Thomas, Barbara Roswell, and Adrian J. Wurr, eds. Writing and Community Engagement: A Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2010. Print. Dewey, John. The Public and Its Problems. Denver: Henry Holt, 1927. Print. Edbauer, Jenny. Unframing Models of Public Distribution: From Rhetorical Situation to Rhetorical Ecologies. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 35.4 (2004): 5-24. Farmer, Frank. After the Public Turn: Composition, Counterpublics, and the Citizen Bricoleur. Boulder: Utah State UP, 2013. Print. Feldman, Ann M. Making Writing Matter: Composition in the Engaged University. Albany: State U of New York P, 2008. Print. Fleckenstein, Kristie S. Vision, Rhetoric, and Social Action in the Composition Classroom. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2010. Print. Fleming, David. City of Rhetoric: Revitalizing the Public Sphere in Metropolitan America. Albany: SUNY P, 2008. Print. Flower, Linda. Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2008. Print. Fraser, Nancy. Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Deomcracy. Social Text 25/26 (1990): 56-80. Gladwell, Malcolm. Small Change: Why the Revolution Wont Be Tweeted. The New Yorker. 4 Oct. 2010. Web. <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell>. Goldblatt, Eli. Because We Live Here: Sponsoring Literacy Beyond the Curriculum. New York: Hampton, 2007. Print. Grabill, Jeffrey T. Writing Community Change: Designing Technologies for Citizen Action. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2007. Print. Grabill, Jeffrey T., and Stacey Pigg. Messy Rhetoric: Identity Performance as Rhetorical Agency in Online Public Forums. Rhetoric Society Quarterly. 42.2 (2012): 99-119. Gramsci, Antonio. The Intellectuals. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. Ed. Quentin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith. New York: International, 2003. 5-23. Print. Habermas, Jrgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Categ ory of Bourgeois Society. Trans. Thomas Burger with Frederick Lawrence. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989. Print. Page 9 of 11 Fall 2013

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Hauser, Gerard A. Civil Society and the Principle of the Public Sphere. Philosophy and Rhetoric 31.1 (1998): 19-40. Herzberg, Bruce. Community Service and Critical Teaching. College Composition and Communication 45.3 (1994): 307-19. Kahn, Seth, and Jonghwa Lee, eds. Activism and Rhetoric: Theories and Contexts for Political Engagement. New York: Routledge, 2011. Print. Long, Elenore. Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Local Publics. WAC Clearinghouse. Web. 17 Aug. 2013. Mathieu, Paula. Not Your Mamas Bus Tour: A Case for Radically Insufficient Writing. City Comp: Identities, Spaces, Practices. Ed. Bruce McComiskey and Cynthia Ryan. Albany: State U of New York P, 2003. Print. 71-84. ---. Tactics of Hope: The Public Turn in English Composition. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2005. Print. Mathieu, Paula, Steve Parks, and Tiffany Rousculp, eds. Circulating Communities: The Tactics and Strategies of Community Publishing. Lanham: Lexington, 2011. Print. Mortensen, Peter. Going Public. College Composition and Communication 50.2 (1998): 182205. JSTOR. Web. 23 Jan. 2010. Morton, Keith. The Irony of Service: Charity, Project and Social Change in Service-Learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (1995): 19-32. Negt, Oskar, and Alexander Kluge. Public Sphere and Experience. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1993. Print. Parks, Stephen. Gravyland: Writing Beyond the Curriculum in the City of Brotherly Love. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2010. Print. Parks, Steve, and Eli Goldblatt. Writing Beyond the Curriculum: Fostering New Collaborations in Literacy. College Composition and Communication 62.5 (2000): 584-606. JSTOR. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. Phillips, Kendall R. The Failure of Memory: Reflections on Rhetoric and Public Remembrance. Western Journal of Communication 74.2 (2010): 208-23. Portman-Daley, Joannah. Reshaping Slacktivist Rhetoric: Social Networking for Social Change. Reflections 10.1 (2010): Ratcliffe, Krista. Rhetorical Listening: Identification, Gender, and Whiteness. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2006. Print. Page 10 of 11 Fall 2013

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Restaino, Jessica, and Laurie JC Cella, eds. Unsustainable: Re-imagining Community Literacy, Public Writing, Service-Learning, and the University. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2013. Print. Riedner, Rachel, and Kevin Mahoney. Democracies to Come: Rhetorical Action, Neoliberalism, and Communities of Resistance. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2008. Print. Ritter, Kelly. E-Valuating Learning: Rate My Professors and Public Rhetorics of Pedagogy. Rhetoric Review 27.3 (2008): 259-80. Rose, Shirley K, and Irwin Weiser, eds. Going Public: What Writing Programs Learn from Engagement. Logan: Utah State UP, 2010. Print. Ryder, Phyllis Mentzell. Rhetorics for Community Action: Public Writing and Writing Publics. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2010. Print. Sandlin, Jennifer A., Brian D. Schultz, and Jake Burdick, eds. Handbook of Public Pedagogy: Education and Learning Beyond Schooling. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print. Sheard, Cynthia Miecznikowski. The Public Value of Epideictic Rhetoric. College English 58.7 (1996): 765-93. Warner, Michael. Publics and Counterpublics. New York: Zone Books, 2005. Print. Weisser, Christian R. Moving Beyond Academic Discourse: Composition Studies and the Public Sphere. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2002. Print. Welch, Nancy. Informed, Passionate, and Disorderly: Uncivil Rhetoric in a New Gilded Age. Community Literacy Journal 7.1 (2012). ---. Living Room: Teaching Public Writing in a Privatized World. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, Heinemann, 2008. Print. Wells, Susan. Rogue Cops and Health Care: What Do We Want from Public Writing? College Composition and Communication 47.3 (1996): 325-41. Wilkey, Christopher, and Nicholas Mauriello, eds. Texts of Consequence: Composing Social Activism for the Classroom and the Community. New York: Hampton Press, 2012. Print.

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