last updated March 9, 2007
Spring 2007, TuTh 2:00-3:15, Lang 345
C.H. Palczewski, Ph.D., Lang 341, x32714
office hours:
Weds: 2:30-4:30
Thurs: 11:00-12:00
If none of these times work, feel free to call or email to make an appointment.
I have already scheduled meetings at the following times (meaning I will be in my office). So, if you just have a quick question or need to drop something off, you will be able to find me then:
Tues: 11:00-11:30, 4:00-4:30
Weds: 2:00-2:30
Thurs: 10:00-11:00 (in Lang 353)
Description: This course will introduce you to the issues involved in social protest, whether in the form of social movements, as generated by counter-public spheres, or as embodied and enacted by individuals. Pedagogically, the class will be structured around a discussion format. Occasional lectures will be presented, but it will always be the students' responsibility to complete the assigned readings prior to class. "Complete" means that you will be able to answer direct questions about the readings and their applications quickly and thoroughly. This means that you may want to take notes as you read.
Goals:
1) Achieve a comprehensive understanding of theories of social protest, rhetorical movements, counterpublic spheres, controversy and performance.
2) Construct a theory of social change as it relates to social protest.
3) Improve discussion skills.
4) Complete a study of an act of social protest, employing primary sources.
Readings:
CS: Asen, Robert, and Daniel C. Brouwer, eds. Counterpublic and the State. Albany, State University of New York Press, 2001.
RRSP: Morris III, Charles E. and Stephen H. Browne, eds. Readings on the Rhetoric of Social Protest. 2nd ed. State College, PA: Strata, 2006.
Assignments: Assignments are worth a total of 100 points. However, for each assignment you can earn fractions of points (so, you can think of it as a 1000 point scale if it makes you feel better). If you need to figure your letter grade at any point in the semester, simply divide the number of points you have by the number of possible points you could have earned. For your final grade, simply add up all the points for each assignment. Points are noted in brackets.
Undergraduate students:
1. Papers: As sociologist James M. Jasper explains in The Art of Moral Protest (1997), "No matter who the audience, protest groups appeal to it through rhetorical framing. They try to define issues, appeal to underlying values, link to positive and negative affects and symbols, spread new information and points of view. Not all their messages are purveyed by words. Actions and the choice of tactics send all sorts of signals; they tell an outsider as much about a group as its explicit arguments do. Cultural persuasion also takes place through organizational forms which are themselves a form of tactic" (p. 242).
Your paper will focus on analyzing the process of rhetorical framing as demonstrated and performed in an act of social protest.
Assignments center around a progressive paper in three steps -- meaning, the first paper becomes the introduction for the 2nd, the 2nd becomes the intro and first section of the 3rd. You will need to learn appropriate citation format (APA or MLA), and will be expected to revise and edit your work as the paper progresses.
Even though there is an extensive peer review process built into the class, you still are expected to conscientiously proofread your own work. If a paper has numerous typographical, citation, or grammatical errors, I will return it ungraded.
Page limits on all assignments will be rigorously enforced. You should spend time finding ways to write more concisely and clearly. If I find your paper long-winded, and you go over the page limit, I will quit reading. (If however, you are brilliant and keep me captivated, I may not notice). Given the expectations of each of the assignments, you probably will need to use the number of pages required. If, however, you are exceptionally concise, then I may not notice if your paper falls short of the recommended page length.
A bibliography is to be turned in with every assignment. It will not count toward your page limit.
The individual point value of each assignment is noted in brackets [ ] immediately following the assignment title. Simply doing the base requirements of each assignment will earn you a "C" -- this means you have done acceptable work. To earn a "B" you must go beyond the assignment expectations or fulfill them in an above average way. To earn an "A" you must go far beyond the assignment expectations and fulfill the base expectations in an exceptional manner.
The content of the paper should be a detailed analysis of a single social protest text (a speech, performance, song, artwork, play, rally, march, flier, etc.). Students must pick a text from a movement about which extensive research already has been published. For example, if you were analyzing protest in the abortion controversy you would use Celeste Condit's Decoding Abortion Rhetoric (1994), environmental rhetoric -- Kevin DeLuca's Image Politics (1999), MADD -- Joseph Gusfield's Contested Meanings (1996), women's suffrage -- Karlyn Kohrs Campbell's Man Cannot Speak For Her (1989), African American civil rights -- Condit and Lucaites' Crafting Equality (1993), etc. In other words, I am not asking you to do a complete study of a social movement or rhetorical campaign. Instead, I want you to find others' studies that can provide a larger framework for your study of a specific text. You must pick a text for which a scholarly study of the broader protest context (movement, campaign, controversy, counterpublic) has already been written. Your first paper must identify the main scholarly source you will be using for general information. For a list of essays about labor, civil rights, feminism, etc., see this link. The link does not provide an exhaustive list, but is just meant to give you an idea of the range of scholarship available. Regardless of from which movement you select a text , to find studies of the larger movement you should (at a minimum) conduct an exhaustive search of:
1) ComAbstracts,
2) InfoTrac,
3) JSTOR,
4) Project Muse,
5) Lexis/Nexis law reviews, and
6) Unistar
In particular, you should look for research from the Communication Studies discipline. Examples can be found at this link.
FOR ALL PAPERS, TURN IN THE PEER EDITED DRAFTS WHEN YOU TURN IN THE PAPER. YOUR PAPER WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED "TURNED IN" UNTIL ALL PEER EDITED DRAFTS ARE TURNED IN.
A. Paper 1: [10 points] (5 pages) Due February 8 This paper eventually will serve as the introduction to the final 15 page paper. It should
1. provide a general introduction to the larger social movement, citing relevant research on the movement and explaining why the movement is a citizenship, post-citizenship or post-industrial movement,
2. identify the theoretical framework that will guide your analysis (rhetorical movement, counterpublic, controversy, confrontation, etc.),
3. introduce the reader to the text you will analyze by including a general summary of the text that identifies its main thesis, outlines its structure, and highlights its substantive and stylistic elements, and
4. locate the text within the larger social protest.
For the bibliography, (which is worth 5 points) I want the following:
A. printouts of the various searches you did in each of the above listed data bases. This means, at a minimum, there should be printouts of 6 searches. However, for most every database, you will want to use multiple search terms.
B. Works cited/references, which includes:
1. Actual works cited or references for the paper.
2. Additional sample citations. I want to make sure everyone knows how to do citations forms for typical sources. In addition to the sources you actually use, you need to include bibliographic entries for at least one of each of the following (even if you are not citing it yet):
a. book
b. book chapter
c. newspaper article
d. magazine article
e. scholarly journal article
f. web source
B. Paper 2 [15 points] (10 pages) Due March 27 The intro to the paper should incorporate a revised version of your first paper (2-3 pages, taken from the first paper). The first section (2-3 pages, taken from the first paper and developed) should provide a rich description of the larger movement. The second section (2-3 pages, all new) should review relevant theories from the readings that will be applied to your analysis of the text. The third section (3-6 pages, new) should outline your initial analysis of the text you are studying. This last section should identify the type of tactic the text uses (i.e. direct, indirect, performance, confrontational, nondiscursive, discursive, controversy, etc.) REMEMBER TO INCLUDE A THEORETICAL FRAME FOR THE PAPER: CONFRONTRATION, CONTROVERSY, SOCIAL MOVEMENT OR COUNTERPUBLIC SPHERE. Also, remember to include a works cited/references.
C. Final paper: [20 points] (15 pages) Due April 24 The final paper should incorporate and refine all the sections from the second paper. Additions are likely to happen in the second section. Additions are expected in the third section. A new fourth section may also be developed. The focus of this paper is on refining your detailed analysis and advancing interesting and innovative critical arguments about how the text functioned as a form of social protest. Also, remember to include a works cited/references.
2. Presentation of final paper: [10 points] Due April 24, 26 During the last week of class, students will present their final papers. Depending on the number of students in the class, presentation lengths will vary, thus final details will be posted once class begins. Students are expected to speak from an outline, a copy of which they should turn in prior to the presentation. The information provided in the final presentations will form the bulk of the content expected to be covered in the final exam.
The presentation should outline the core argument made in the paper. You should also provide evidence (quotations from the readings or text, for example) to support the main argument.
More helpful hints:
A) Do NOT simply read your paper for your presentation. The presentation should be formal and professional, but not scripted. I suggest you speak from a detailed outline (remember to include quotations from the readings in the outline to illustrate the points you want to make). Please bring two copies of the outline: one to speak from and one for me. DO practice the presentation to make sure your outline fits within the time limits. Time limits will be enforced, strictly.
B) Presume the audience is not familiar with your paper, but is educated about social protest. Thus, your presentation should include a detailed description of the specific act of protest and a less detailed reference to theories of protest. Your presentation does NOT need to include detailed definitions of common protest theory terms (i.e. confrontational rhetoric), but you might want to provide quick reminders of what extremely precise technical terms mean (i.e. oppositional argument). Do provide sufficient theoretical explanation of more complicated concepts so that the audience can follow your analysis.
C) Do not try to present all the arguments in your paper. You will not be able to cover everything in just a few minutes. Instead, give a brief overview of all your arguments, and then pick one or two on which to focus the presentation.
D) Think about answering the "so what?" question and think about what you want your audience to take away from the presentation. What really cool thing did you figure out as part of this class?
3. Midterm: [10 points] March 8.
4. Discussion: [15 points] Being a good participant does not mean that you always have the answer; it can also mean that you know when to ask the right questions and when to recognize that the answers have already been offered by the class but need to be synthesized. Discussion is a central component of this class insofar as each person's analysis of the text can be enhanced by others' insights. For a detailed description of the criteria used in the assessment of discussion, see my discussion link.
5. Peer editing [10 points]
February 1: Bring two (2) copies of a draft of paper one to class. You will trade papers with two others. Edited papers should be returned to their authors on February 6 .
March 20: Bring two (2) copies of a draft of paper two to class. You will trade papers with two others. Edited papers should be returned to their authors on March 22.
April 12: Bring two (2) copies of a draft of your final paper to class. You will trade papers with two others. Edited papers should be returned to their authors on April 17.
Remember to sign your name to any paper you edit. Authors, please remember to turn in the edited version when you turn in your paper.
6. Final [10 points] 1:00-2:50, May 2. The final will be in essay form, and will ask you to develop a theory of social protest. The theory should be derived not only from the acts of social protest discussed in class readings, but also from the acts of protest studied by other class members and the Sweet Honey in the Rock video watched during Week 13.
Graduate students: You will develop an individual assignment track that best fits your interests and needs, pending approval from me. You should write up a description of the assignments you choose to do, their due dates, and their point values and hand it in by January 18 (use this syllabus as a model for the format and level of detail expected). The assignment track is up to you, save for two parts: 1) papers and 2) weekly meetings. The papers: you must write a 20-25 page progressive paper with due dates corresponding to the due dates for the undergraduate papers. Your papers need not focus on a text, but can be a broader analysis of a movement. The point values for the papers are up to you. The meeting: graduate students also are expected to meet, as a group, with the professor outside of class for one hour weekly. We will compare schedules once class starts to find a time that works for everyone. Expect the meetings to start in the third week of classes. Meetings will be ******.
General Information: see this link. This site includes my late policy, the university accommodation policy, as well as paper format descriptions.
Read:
RRSP: pp. 1-9, 106-114 (Sillars), 35-44 (Simons)
Key Terms: rhetoric, performance, social protest, enactment, instrumental rhetoric, consummatory rhetoric
Read:
RRSP: pp. 9-13 (Griffin), 115-125 (McGee)
Key terms: social movement, dramatism, ideograph, strategic/communicative/expressive/instrumental, action, inception/crisis/consummation, movement as phenomenon v. movement as meaning
Supplemental readings:
Griffin, Leland M. "A Dramatistic Theory of the Rhetoric of Movements." Critical Responses to Kenneth Burke. Ed. William H. Reuckert. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1969. 456-478.
Read:
CS: pp. 1-32 (Asen & Brouwer)
Fraser, Nancy. "Rethinking the Public Sphere." Habermas and the Public Sphere. Ed. Craig Calhoun. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992. 109-142.
RRSP: pp. 266-286 (Pezzullo)
Key terms: public sphere, state, counterpublic spheres, globalization, new communication technologies, weak v. strong public, performance, image events, pinkwashing
Supplemental readings:
Habermas, Jürgen. "The Public Sphere." Jürgen Habermas on Society and Politics: A Reader. Ed. Steven Seidman. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989. 231-236.
Habermas, Jürgen. "Further Reflections on the Public Sphere." Habermas and the Public Sphere. Ed. Craig Calhoun. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992. 421-461.
Asen, Robert. "Seeking the 'Counter' in Counterpublics." Communication Theory 10 (2000): 424-446.
Summary of Fraser article.
Fraser, Nancy. Transnationalizing the Public Sphere.
RRSP: pp. 14-28 (Haiman), 28-34 (Scott & Smith), 45-57 (Gregg), 95-104 (Cathcart)
Key terms: confrontation (in all its various definitions), ego-function
Supplemental readings:
Dow, Bonnie J. "AIDS, Perspective by Incongruity, and Gay Identity in Larry Kramer's '1,112 and Counting'." Communication Studies 45 (Fall-Winter 1994): 225-240.
Stewart, Charles J. "Championing the Rights of Others and Challenging Evil: The Ego Function in the Rhetoric of Other-directed Social Movements." Southern Communication Journal 64 (Winter 1999): 91-105.
RRSP: pp. 184-209 (Olson & Goodnight)
Lake, Randall A. and Barbara A. Pickering. "Argumentation, the Visual, and the Possibility of Refutation: An Exploration." Argumentation 12 (February 1998): 79 - 93. Accessible with SpringerLink.
Palczewski, Catherine Helen. "The Male Madonna and the Feminine Uncle Sam: Visual Argument, Icons, and Ideographs in 1909 Anti-Woman Suffrage Postcards." Quarterly Journal of Speech 91.4 (November 2005): 365-294. Accessible with Ingenta.
Key terms: controversy, discursive, non-discursive, oppositional argument, visual rhetoric, dissection, transformation, substitution, visual argument
Read:
RRSP: pp. 395-410 (Murphy), 508-524 (Stewart)
CS: pp. 111-136 (Squires)
Key terms: identity, the function of the public sphere, concerns of the rhetorical study of counterpublicity, public vocabulary, hegemony, social control as symbolic action that renews the social order, naming, contextualization, diversion, legal sanction, moral confrontation, enclave, oscillating, counterpublic, parallel public, integrative marginalization
Supplemental readings:
RRSP: Hammerback & Jensen, pp. 304-319
Griffin, Leland M. "When Dreams Collide." Quarterly Journal of Speech 70 (1984): 111-131.
Dionisopoulos, George N. et al. "Martin Luther King." Western Journal of Communication 56 (Spring 1992): 91-107.
Delgado, Fernando Pedro. "Chicano Movement Rhetoric: An Ideographic Interpretation." Communication Quarterly 43 (Fall 1995): 446-454.
Flores, Lisa A. "Creating Discursive Space Through a Rhetoric of Difference: Chicana Feminists Craft a Homeland." Quarterly Journal of Speech 82 (May 1996): 142-156.
Benson, Thomas W. "Rhetoric and Autobiography: The Case of Malcolm X." Quarterly Journal of Speech 60.1 (February 1974): 1-13.
James, Lawrence B. "The Influence of Black Orality on Contemporary Black Poetry and its Implications for Performance." Southern Speech Communication Journal 45 (Spring 1980): 249-267.
Madison, D. Soyini. "'That Was My Occupation': Oral Narrative, Performance, and Black Feminist Thought." Text and Performance Quarterly 13 (July 1993): 213-232.
Read:
RRSP: pp. 486-507 (Darsey), 320-334 (Dow)
CS: pp. 87-110 (Brouwer)
Fabj, Valeria and Matthew J. Sobnosky. "AIDS Activism and the Rejuvenation of the Public Sphere." Argumentation & Advocacy 31 (Spring 1995): 163-184.
Key terms: genuine argument, confrontation, empowerment, catalytic events, ego-function, identity, technical/public/personal spheres of argument, oscillation, perspective by incongruity
Supplemental readings:
Karma, Chávez. "Beyond Complicity: Coherence, Queer Theory, and the Rhetoric of the 'Gay Christian Movement.'" Text and Performance Quarterly 24 (October 2004): 255-275.
Brouwer, Daniel. "Corps/Corpse: the U.S. Military and Homosexuality." Western Journal of Communication 68 (Fall 2004): 411-431.
Slagle, R. Anthony. "In Defense of Queer Nation: From Identity Politics to a Politics of Difference." Western Journal of Communication 59 (Spring 1995): 85-102.
Christiansen, Adrienne E. and Jeremy J. Hanson. "Comedy as Cure for Tragedy: ACT UP and the Rhetoric of AIDS." Quarterly Journal of Speech 82 (May 1996): 157-170.
Nip, Joyce Y. M. "The Queer Sisters and its Electronic Bulletin Board: A Study of the Internet for Social Movement Mobilization." Information Communication & Society 7 (March 2004): 23-49.
Read:
RRSP: 172-183 (Campbell), 472-485 (Condit)
Stacey K. Sowards and Valerie R. Renegar. "The Rhetorical Functions of Consciousness-Raising in Third Wave Feminism." Communication Studies 55 (Winter 2004): 535-52.
Park-Fuller, Linda M. "Audiencing the Audience: Playback Theatre, Performative Writing, and Social Activism." Text & Performance Quarterly 23.3 (July 2003): 288-310.
Dow, Bonnie. "Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology." Rhetoric & Public Affairs 6.1 (2003): 127-149.
Key terms: first/second/third wave feminism, ideograph, enactment, decorum, empowerment, identity, Playback theatre, performative writing, consciousness raising, resisting reader
Supplemental readings:
Mechling, Elizabeth Walker and Jay Mechling. "The Jung and the Restless: The Mythopoetic Men's Movement." The Southern Communication Journal 59 (Winter 1994): 97-111.
Fabj, Valeria. "Motherhood as Political Voice: The Rhetoric of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo." Communication Studies 44 (Spring 1993): 1-18.
Capo, Kay Ellen and Darlene M. Hantzis. "(En)Gendered (and Engendering) Subjects: Writing, Reading, Performing, and Theorizing Feminist Criticism." Text and Performance Quarterly 11 (1991): 249-266.
Vanderford, Marsha L. "Vilification and Social Movements." Quarterly Journal of Speech 75 (1989): 166-182.
Miller, Lynn C. "'Polymorphous Perversity' in Women's Performance Art: The Case of Holly Hughes." Text and Performance Quarterly 15 (1995): 44-58.
read:
RRSP: 335-353 (Tonn), 411-436 (Cloud)
key terms: null persona, silence, materialism, feminine style
Supplemental readings: (link)
****Note, depending on Cate's travel schedule with debate, the readings during the following weeks may change. However, paper due dates should not change.****
March 20: peer editing -- bring two copies of a draft of paper 2 to class
March 22: return edited papers
read:
RRSP: pp. 288-303 (Lake)
Palczewski, Catherine H. "When Times Collide: Ward Churchill's Use of an Epideictic Moment to Ground Forensic Argument." Argumentation & Advocacy 41 (2005): 123-138.
Key terms: consummatory rhetoric, ritual, time's cycle v. time's arrow, epideictic rhetoric, temporal collapse, collective memory, pilgrimages, charisma, identity
supplemental readings:
Morris, Richard and Philip Wander. "Native American Rhetoric." Quarterly Journal of Speech76 (1990): 164-191.
Lake, Randall A. "Between Myth and History." Quarterly Journal of Speech 77 (1991): 125-151.
March 27, read:
DeLuca, Kevin Michael. "Unruly Arguments: The Body Rhetoric of EarthFirst!" Argumentation and Advocacy 36 (Summer 1999): 9-21.
Key terms: tactics, strategic rhetorics, organizations as tactics, hysteria, habitus, factors influencing tactical choices
Supplemental readings:
Short, Brant. "Earth First!" Communication Studies 42 (Summer 1991): 172-188.
DeLuca, Kevin Michael. Image Politics: The New Rhetoric of Environmental Activism. New York: Guilford Press, 1999.
March 29: Watch Sweet Honey in the Rock DVD.
April 3, watch: finish watching Sweet Honey in the Rock (this will be part of final exam) and in class, provide initial reports on your research projects. Plan on having a 3-4 minute description of your protest act and what theoretical framework it illustrates or modifies.
April 5, read: CS: pp. 161-186 (Palczewski), 187-210 (McDorman), 211-234 (Mater)
Key terms: globalization, counterpublicity, the elements of a counterpublic, cyber-movements, hacktivism, the functions of counterpublics, NGOs as protest organizations, weak v. strong publics
Supplemental readings:
Owens, Lynn, and L. Kendall Palmer. "Making the News: Anarchist Counter-public Relations on the World Wide Web." Critical Studies in Media Communication 20 (December 2003): 335-361.
Van Aelst, Peter, and StefaanWalgrave. "New Media, New Movements?" Information Communication & Society 5.4 (2002): 465-493.
read:
RRSP: pp. 244-265 (DeLuca & Peeples)
Chvasta, Marcyrose. "Anger, Irony, and Protest: Confronting the Issue of Efficacy, Again." Text & Performance Quarterly 26.1 (January 2006): 5-16.
Bruner, M. Lane. "Carnivalesque Protest and the Humorless State." Text & Performance Quarterly 25.2 (April 2005): 136-155.
Key terms: irony, performance, carnivalesque, public screen, public sphere, re-mediation, distraction, dissemination v. dialogue, role of violence in social protest, image events, boundary crossing, celebratory performative protest, interventionist performative protest, cultural/representational, social/institutional
April 17: Return edited papers
read:
CS: pp. 59-86 (Doxtader)
Fenske, Mindy. "The Aesthetic of the Unfinished: Ethics and Performance." Text and Performance Quarterly 24 (January 2004): 1-19.
Key terms: risks of protest, identity, abstract systems, totalizing visions' dangers, embedded systems, public sphere, tactics are never neutral means,
Terry, David P. "Once Blind, Now Seeing: Problematics of Confessional Performance." Text & Performance Quarterly 26.3 (July 2006): 209-228.
PRESENTATION LENGTH 7 (seven) MINUTES.
I know I said in class you would have 8, but my math was off. If we want time for questions at the end, you all need to shoot for 7 minute presentations.
April 24:
Brock A.
Amanda C.
Brandon C.
Ashley Fett
Josh F.
Amanda G.
April H.
Karissa K.
Chris K.
April 26:
Laura B.
Dani M.
Ashley C.
Ashley S.
Kara S.
Anne S.
Hannah V.
Katie W.
Kelsey H (10 minutes)