The primary goal of this class is to help you to develop a complex and nuanced understanding of the relationship between rhetoric and social conflict. In our readings and class sessions we will explore the conceptual structure of this relationship as a means of developing a critical framework from within to act upon &endash; perhaps even to constitute &endash; the social and political worlds in which we live. Your writing assignments this semester are designed for you to employ this conceptual structure in the study of actual instances of social conflict. In your journals it is assumed that you will identify a wide variety of instances of social conflict that help to illustrate, elaborate, and evaluate the concepts presented in various class readings or discussions. In your semester long project you are being asked to employ the conceptual materials of the course to develop a detailed critical study of a particular instance of social conflict.

The social conflict you study can be historical (e.g., the struggle between Parliament and the throne as to whether or not Queen Elizabeth should get married, the 19th century debates between abolitionists/anti-abolitionists; the controversy evoked by the call for a constitutional amendment to grant women's suffrage; the battle over desegregation of the 1950s and 1960s, etc.) or contemporary (e.g., the pro-choice/pro-life debates; the Senate trial of President Clinton; the Bosnian conflict; American "involvement" in the Middle East, etc.). Similarly, the social conflict can be international, national, regional, or local (including a "campus" conflict). The only restriction on your choice of conflict is that it be "public" conflict and you can produce primary documents for analysis. By primary documents we have reference to documents that are immediate and intrinsic to the controversy, including speeches, pamphlets, or other writings and representations by the principal parties to the conflict, and/or mass-mediated representations of the conflict as it is taking place. So, for example, if you were to study the debates between abolitionists and anti-abolitionists the assumption is that you will be examining the speeches and pamphlets written by folks involved in the controversy, as well as newspaper and magazine reports from the 19th century concerning the particular controversy that concerns you. An alternative to studying how the principles parties involved enact a conflict would be to examine the ways in which particular conflicts are re-presented in the mass media.

Your class project will develop in three stages. In the first stage (Essay #1) you will produce a brief essay (750-1,000 words + bibliography) in which you identify and describe the social conflict you intend to study, make a case for its contemporary significance, and provide a preliminary bibliography of the primary documents you will examine as the study develops. As you approach this essay pay careful attention to the three tasks before you:

1. Identify and Describe a Social Conflict. Your purpose at this stage is not to develop a critical analysis of a social conflict, but rather to demonstrate that a particular relationship fits under the general rubric of "social conflict." We've defined "social conflict" in rather broad terms as the range of ways in which the members of a particular culture constitute or stylize social and political differences in an economy of relationships of power ranging from antagonisms and competitions to debates, disputes, fights, and wars. As we've discussed this definition through our study of George Simmel we've arrived at several implications that underscore topics that should guide any argument designed to categorize a relationship as one of "social conflict":

(a) every conflict is a struggle over some sort of a prize, whether it be purely objective (e.g., gaining property) or subjective (establishing one's identity, achieving "prestige," etc.);

(b) every conflict requires an "other" of some sort, an opponent (which may go by many names: loyal opposition, adversary, combatant, perpetrator, alien, outsider, enemy, devil-worshiper, etc.) with whom the struggle takes place;

(c) the relationship between "others" in a conflict is a somewhat ironic structure of "cooperation" organized by an identifiable body of norms, customs, rules, procedures, laws, etc. that tend to define the scope and focus of the relationship of difference.

As you proceed to demonstrate that a particular relationship is usefully understood as a social conflict you should be sure to employ these three topics to make your case: what is the prize? who is the "other" and how are they constituted in the relationship? what norms, rules, etc. seem to structure the relationship between participants in the conflict?

2. The Contemporary Significance of the Conflict. Your second task is to make an argument for the contemporary significance of the social conflict you want to study. If you are working with a historical conflict it will be important for you to make an argument for either how the conflict has impacted on contemporary social and political life in some specific way (e.g., how might the resolution of the Civil War impact on the contemporary relationship between the states and the federal government?) or how we might learn how to interpret and engage contemporary conflicts by studying prior conflicts (e.g., might the study of the abolitionist conflict shed light on the more contemporary abortion conflict?). If you are working with a contemporary conflict then you need to make an argument for the implications and significance of the conflict as a conflict. So, for example, if you were to study the abortion controversy you would need to explain what is at stake in the conflict between pro-choice and pro-life advocates. Note, the point here is not to argue for one side or another in the controversy, but to explore the implications of the conflict per se, and how the conflict itself speaks to significant issues concerning who and what we are as a "people" or "community."

3. Preliminary Bibliography of Primary Sources. Your third task is to identify at least five primary sources that you will initially use in your study of the controversy. Of course, as the study develops you will find yourself looking to more and different sources, and the final project may well employ more than these five sources. The bibliography should be listed on a separate page titled "Bibliography." The bibliographical references should follow the citational format for documenting sources in the MLA Handbook, 4th Ed.

Essay #1 is due at the beginning of class on February 10, 1999. Late essays will be penalized at the rate of five points per day beginning at 9:31 on the due-date. Be sure to read and accommodate the general criteria for formal essays on your course syllabus. I will hand out a description of Essays #2 and #3 at the appropriate time. Feel free to consult with me about your project at any stage of its development, whether in office hours, by special appointment, or via e-mail. At this stage the key to a successful project is making sure that you are working with a conflict that is focused enough to allow you to do a detailed study of it in the time allowed, but not so focused as to be trivial. I should be able to help you in both regards, and I am happy to do so.