Communication Studies 552--Rhetoric of Women’s Rights Spring 2003

 

Instructors:

Beth Manolescu Office: 116E Bailey

Office hours: Mon. 12:30-1:30; by appointment Office phone: 864-9018

Email: bimanole@ku.edu

 

Jimmie Manning Office:1B Bailey

Office hours: Mon. and Wed.  9:45-10:45, by appointment  Office phone:  864-3633

Email: jimmiemanning@yahoo.com

 

Course description:

The woman’s rights movement in the United States is well suited for rhetorical analysis because, almost without political, economic, or social power, women necessarily employed rhetoric to attain their goals. This course will apply the tools of rhetorical criticism in order to identify, describe, and evaluate the rhetors and their rhetoric, thereby gaining increased understanding of how women sought to change society through persuasion.

 

Objectives:

By the end of the course, you should have a clearer understanding of the potential of rhetoric as a change agency, and a thorough understanding, from a historical perspective, of women’s struggle for their rights as people and as U.S. citizens.

 

How to achieve them:

(1) Readings

To help you to achieve these goals, we will read and discuss select texts from the history of American women’s rights rhetoric. Many of these readings will be available in Campbell’s Man Cannot Speak for Her, vol. 2 (C), Flexner’s Century of Struggle (F), and Friedan’s Feminine Mystique (FM); some will be available at the Douglass site (http://douglassarchives.org/) (D); through Blackboard (log in at http://courseware.ku.edu) (B); some through E-Reserves (log in at http://eres.lib.ku.edu) (E); and through the Gerritsen Collection (available through the KU libraries electronic resources page) (G).

 

Graduate students will also read Campbell’s Man Cannot Speaker for Her, vol. 1 (M), Kraditor’s Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement (K), Wheeler’s One Woman, One Vote (W), and Condit’s Decoding Abortion Rhetoric (A).

 

(2) Attendance

To achieve the course goals, it is necessary to attend class regularly. I will take attendance at each class meeting. After 4 absences—excused or unexcused—your final grade for the course will be reduced by 5 percentage points for each class meeting missed. If you provide written documentation of excused absences on the first day you return to class, I will make a note of it.

 

(3) Assignments

To evaluate your achievement of course goals, you will have opportunities to demonstrate your understanding of the rhetoric of women’s rights and your ability to perform rhetorical analyses of select speeches.

 

Undergraduate students:

Exams: exam 1--20%; exam 2--20%

Papers: paper A--20%; paper B--20%

Quizzes and minor assignments—20%

 

You will receive study questions to help you prepare for exams.

 

Paper A will be a rhetorical analysis and evaluation of one of the texts on the syllabus. It will be due on the date we discuss the text in class. At that time you will present your analysis to the class (7-10 minutes). You may choose to work individually or in teams of 2 or 3. A detailed assignment sheet will be available on Blackboard in “Assignments.”


 

Paper B will be a rhetorical analysis and evaluation of a significant rhetorical text relevant to women’s rights not discussed in class. It will be due on the date listed on the syllabus; you will be randomly assigned to round 1, 2, 3, or 4. At that time you will present your text analysis to the class (7-10 minutes). You may choose to work individually or in teams of 2 or 3. A detailed assignment sheet will be available on Blackboard in “Assignments.” All topics must be approved by me. At least 2 weeks in advance of the due date, submit a proposal that includes (1) your topic, (2) why it is significant, (3) full citation of the text or texts you will use, and (4) full citations of secondary sources you plan to use. You may use one of the texts in Man Cannot Speak for Her or another text of your choice. If you choose to analyze a speech or written text, it must be complete. If you choose to analyze a portion of some text, you must justify your selection. Attach a copy of the complete text as an appendix to your paper.

 

For quizzes and minor assignments, your goal is to collect 100 points. It will be possible to collect more. To earn points, you must take the quiz or hand in the assignment on the due date. No late assignments will be accepted, and no make-up quizzes will be given.

 

Graduate students:

Report on Condit’s methods in Decoding Abortion Rhetoric--20%

Research paper: 70%

Quizzes and minor assignments—10%

 

The report on Condit’s methods will be 5-7 pages.

 

Graduate students will submit a research paper, 15-20 pages, suitable for publication in Quarterly Journal of Speech or Rhetoric and Public Affairs.

 

(4) Collaboration

Those who prefer to work in groups may choose to prepare and present papers in teams of two or three. You will have opportunities to share your papers with other members of the class. Each class meeting will also offer an opportunity to engage in critical discussion of the rhetoric of women’s rights with your colleagues. You will enhance your understanding of the potential of rhetoric for creating identification and addressing conflict by studying the assigned texts before class meetings--engaging the material by asking yourself what is being said, why, and how--and by working cooperatively with your colleagues during class to articulate and refine your responses to rhetorical performances.

 

Tentative schedule of readings and assignments