Instructor: Dr. Brad Stiffler
This course is roughly divided into two parts. We will start by examining the concept of "rhetoric,"
using it as a basis for rethinking our understanding of all language and cultural meaning. We will use this framework to analyze some of the rhetoric encountered in everyday life, with specific focus on language that deals with identity, selfhood, agency, and community. By looking specifically at the way discussions of the self and identity have changed since the 1970s in the United States, we will ask critical questions about how such rhetoric continues to shape our ideas about, and experience of, daily life. In addition to examining traditional forms of rhetoric found in speech, cultural texts like TV and film, and other linguistic sites, we will also consider how our built environment makes meaning, guides our understanding and use of space, and otherwise plays a political or "rhetorical" role in everyday life.
The second half of class turns more specifically to the concept of "everyday life," tracing a brief history of how myriad thinkers, artists, and activists have defined and discussed the concept. More specifically, we will look at various ways that people have tried to capture, represent, talk about, or pin down the experience of the quotidian. The very nature of the everyday, often seen as mundane, trivial, "simply there," or even boring, makes it difficult to discuss, theorize, or comment on. Using examples from documentary film, podcasting, literature, poetry, theory, and other forms, we consider what it means to address "everyday life" and how one might intervene and transform it.
Since the class is designated as writing-intensive (WI), much of our work will be organized around writing about these ideas, texts, and arguments. We will learn about and practice a particular form of analytical writing, focused on summarizing and responding to the ideas found in the readings, lecture, and other materials.