The Rhetoric of Protest (Spring 2008)

The act of protest, from the Declaration of Independence to the latest anti-war rally to the ongoing Writer’s Strike, has and continues to define and change different social, legal, and cultural institutions within the United States. A study of the slogans, speeches, and other artifacts that mainstream and marginal groups use to contest the status quo is intrinsically a study of rhetoric. In this class, we will look at moments of protest in different time periods, locations, and media as a way of distinguishing the tools that people use to argue and persuade. The class will consider how protest groups choose to construct their arguments, asking such questions as what type(s) of argument are occurring? What kinds of rhetorical techniques are at work in the protest texts? These examinations will work to reveal not only the claims, reasons, and values at work during various protests but the means by which a group of people attempt to enlighten, persuade, or change a particular set of circumstances. What is the context to which the protest responds? How are those involved in these protest moments seeking to create social change? By changing the type of argument or its terms? Or, by introducing new kinds of logic, affect, or ethos? The texts themselves range from those conventionally conceived of as protest to those that take more nontraditional or radical forms. Rooted in historical occurrences and contemporary issues, this class will help students to think critically, to analyze a variety of cultural texts, and to learn to see examples of protest and argument in their day-to-day surroundings. Ultimately, this course will ask students to determine how these various protests work to persuade, and to think about what criteria and circumstances make an event a protest.