Contesting Citizenship: The Rhetoric of Political and Social Movements (PWR 194)

Offered Spring 2012

Instructor: Patti Hanlon-Baker
Schedule: TTh 1:15-3:05 p.m., 160-123
Prerequisites: PWR 1 and PWR 2
Undergrad Reqs: DB SocSci

How does a social or political movement gain traction?

For example, how did 20th-century movements of the disenfranchised, such as the Civil Rights movement or Women’s Suffrage, gain a voice and eventually enact change? In the mediascape of today, where everyone with access to a computer has voice, how does a movement like Occupy Wall Street change the national conversation?

In this course, we’ll examine the role of rhetoric—the use of argument to persuade—in social movements working toward social justice.

How do these movements gain momentum?

How do their demands for parity in access, rights, and opportunities get expressed?

How do speakers or writers representing such movements decide how to put forward their unpopular or controversial views?

How do they persuade others to join their cause? What sorts of rhetoric, in which contexts, move others to action to change and support legal and social rights? These and similar inquiries are at the root of “Claiming Citizenship: The Rhetoric of Social and Political Movements.” 

We'll analyze the rhetorical foundation of social and political movements--from women's suffrage to the Tea Party, from Civil Rights to Occupy Wall St.

We'll ask how key terms and concepts are contested, understood, and used by supporters and opponents. These terms include those that are used to describe the nation (e.g. citizen, diversity, patriotism, freedom) as well as those that describe people in movements (e.g. conservative, feminist, queer, activist).  

Students will design writing projects focused on social/political issues and controversies with long or short histories. To consider these movements, their histories, their implications and potential, we’ll examine artifacts (tracts, posters, websites, op-eds, etc.) from various groups and time periods, keeping our focus on the rhetoric and the rhetor(s).

Our inquiry will be grounded in questions of rhetorical choice, intention, and effect. We will focus less on why a movement exists and more on how a movement functions to address the social, legal, educational, and economic needs of diverse groups as well as how that movement grew to function. Thus, we will, as a class and as individuals, analyze texts produced by social movements, consider how messages are consumed, and eventually produce and disseminate consumable messages via a publicly accessible blog.