Part I: The Socio-Rhetorical Functions of Conflict (1/11-1/13)

Our goal in this first section of the course was to begin to identify the relationshipbetween "rhetoric" (the art of paradox, the sociality of language, the culture of available resources for negotiating sociality and paradox) and "conflict" (the range of ways in whichthe members of a particular culture constitute or stylize social and political differences within an economy of relationships of power ranging from antagonisms, competitions, and courtship to debates, disputes, fights, and war)." We emphasized both the ways in which conflicts are constituted in and through rhetorical interaction, as well as how conflicts help to rhetorically constitute the social order. We identified three topics relevant to identifying the relationship between rhetoric and social conflict: what is theprize? who is the "other" in a conflict and how are they constituted? and what norms,rules, laws, etc. structure the relationships between participants in a conflict.

Part II: The Rhetorical Ideological Structure of Conflict 

Our goal in this section of the course is to examine how conflicts are constituted as a function of ideological agreements and disagreements that connect and separate the members of a group or community. We will focus our attention on how a rhetorical community is constituted in and through ideographs and metaphors, and how the interaction between these two symbolic constructs provide the grounds for social difference and negotiation.

 

2/8 Rhetoric and the Ideological Foundations of Social Community

Read: McGee, Michael Calvin. "The Ideograph: A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology." Quarterly Journal of Speech 6 (1980): 1-16.*

2/10 The Ideological Structures of Social-Conflict: A Case Study

Read: Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have A Dream," August 28, 1963.

John F. Kennedy, "Moral Crisis," June 11, 1963

      
Malcolm X, "The Ballot or the Bullet, April 3, 1964.
      
* * * * * *   Essay #1 Due In-Class
      

2/15  Metaphors as Frames of Acceptance and Rejection

Read:  Lakoff and Johnson, 3-51.
      

2/17  Creating Cultural/Ideological Coherence

Read:  Lakoff and Johnson, 52-114.
      

2/22  Creating Ideological Meaning/Truth/Action

Read:  Lakoff and Johnson, 115-184.
      

2/24  Cultural Truths as Perspectives by Incongruity

Read:  Lakoff and Johnson, 185-239.
      

3/1  Rhetoric, Metaphor, and Ideology: A Case Study of Social Conflict

Read:  Moore, Mark P.  "The Cigarette as Representational Ideograph in the Debate 
Over Environmental Tobacco Smoke."  Communication Monographs, 64 (1997):  47-64.*

3/3   Midterm Examination
   

Part III: Constituting the "other" in Social and Political Conflict (3/8-3/31)

3/31 Essay # 2 Due In-class
   

Part IV: Stylizing Conflict (4/5 to 4/28)

4/26 Course Evaluations; Review for final examination
   
4/28 Discuss Final Papers; Hand out take home examination

Essay #3 Due

5/3 Final Examination Due

* Photocopies of these essays will be placed on reserve in the Journalism Library. You can also find the essays in the journals in the Journalism library stacks.