CTSJ 265 Feminist Rhetoric and Social Change

This course is an introduction to feminist rhetorical history and criticism as it foregrounds the study of how women "stand and speak" using rhetorical strategies to address social and cultural issues that impact them. This class positions the study of feminist rhetorics within the larger study of language and discourse theories as we examine how social relations, power, knowledge, and identities are constituted through private and public rhetorical acts. Through our readings, we will engage a wide range of contributions to a rhetorical critical history by women who, either as practitioners or theorists, advanced their visions of social change and acted to implement them. Course readings will begin in antiquity to provide a foundation for our study, though much of our material will focus on texts from the 19th century to the present, to examine the intersections of gender and rhetoric. Through this work, we will challenge the seeming erasure of women from this critical history, and interrogate the notion of "feminist rhetoric" as merely a corollary to a masculinist tradition. Assignments will include critical essays and a visual rhetoric project on representations of women in the media and popular culture.