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Course Schedule
How To Read This Schedule: All readings will be completed before class on the date on which they are assigned. Anything in bold is work to be completed before class and brought with you on the day listed. Paper due dates, also in bold, indicate that the completed manuscript of your paper must be in the correct dropbox on eCampus before class starts on the day indicated.
Unit 1: Rhetoric as a Solution to the Problem of Modernity
Week 1 Why Do People Do Dumb Things?
Tue 01/15
- Course Overview
Thu 01/17
- Sigmund Freud, from Beyond the Pleasure Principle
Week 2 Why Are Cities So Scary?
Tue 01/22
- Bronislaw Malinowski, from Myth in Primitive Psychology
- First Participation Card Due
Thu 01/24
- Georg Simmel, from Metropolis and Modern Life
Week 3 What Do Words Actually Do?
Tue 01/29
- Ferdinand de Saussure, “Object of Linguistics” & “Nature of Linguistic Signs” from Course in General Linguistics
Thu 01/31
- Friedrich Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”
Week 4 How Do Words Manipulate the Public?
Tue 02/05
- Edward Bernays, from Propaganda
- Ch. 1-2
Thu 02/07
- Kenneth Burke, “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle”
Unit 2: Modern Theories of Persuasion
Week 5 Why Aren't We Talking About Rhetoric?
Tue 02/12
- Wayne Booth, “The Revival of Rhetoric”
Thu 02/14
- John Poulakos, “Toward a Sophistic Definition of Rhetoric”
Week 6 What Happens When We Do a Rhetoric?
Tue 02/19
- Paper Workshop Day
Thu 02/21
- Lloyd F. Bitzer, “The Rhetorical Situation”
- Paper 1 Due 2/22 by 11:59PM
Week 7 How Does this Work in the Real World?
Tue 02/26
- Maurice Charland, “Constitutive Rhetoric”
Thu 02/28
- Simone De Beauvoir, from The Second Sex
Week 8 How Else Do We Argue?
Tue 03/05
- Betty Friedan, from The Feminine Mystique
Thu 03/07
- Sonja K. Foss & Cindy L. Griffin, “Beyond Persuasion: A Proposal for an Invitational Rhetoric”
Week 9 Spring Break!
Tue 03/12
No Class
Spring Break
Thu 03/14
No Class
Spring Break
Week 10 Where Else Does Rhetoric Happen?
Tue 03/19
Thu 03/21
- Jim W. Corder, “Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric as Love”
Unit 3: Case Study: Rhetoric and Food
Week 11 Does Food Tell a Story?
Tue 03/26
- Exam 1
- Bring Blue Books!
Thu 03/28
- Michael Pollan, “Introduction” from Cooked (read from pg. 19 until the end)
Week 12 Is This All Natural?
Tue 04/02
- Alexis Shotwell, from Against Purity
Thu 04/04
- Christie Aschwanden, “No, LaCroix Isn’t Poisoning You Like You’re A Giant Cockroach”
Week 13 Who Makes the Most Authentic Food?
Tue 04/09
- Timothy Richardson, “The Authenticity of What’s Next”
Thu 04/11
- Watch “Vladimir Mukhin” from Chef’s Table, Vol. 3 on Netflix
- Minerva Orduño Rincón, “The Authenticity Trap of Mexican Food in America”
Week 14 What Should We Have For Dinner?
Tue 04/16
- Anna M. Young, “The Politics of Wine and the Style of Bullshit”
Thu 04/18
- Pete Wells, “As Not Seen on TV”
- American Bar and Kitchen Menu
Week 15 What Should I Write My Paper About?
Tue 04/23
- Work on Your Paper
Thu 04/25
- Paper Workshop Day
- Paper 2 Due 4/30 by 11:59PM
Week 16
Tue 04/30
No Class
Redefined Day (Go To Friday Classes)