You might be wondering about the kinds of theories of rhetoric you can read about. As you’ve already seen, rhetoric can be defined in various ways. Here are some subfields of rhetoric studies and theories that you might consider especially for your projects in English 3340.
Have fun and do some of your own research. Once you land on a rhetorical theory you’re interested in, read something the theorist has written and start making connections to the kind of work you’d like to do in the course. This list is generative and non-exhaustive.
A definition: The persuasive power of prosodic features, including voice quality, tempo, loudness, rhythm, intonation, emphasis, pitch and pitch range, and other factors.
What was my Google Search: What are sonic rhetorics?
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A definition: The term visual rhetoric falls under an umbrella term known as visual literacy, which is generally split into three categories: visual thinking, visual learning, visual rhetoric/communication (though clearly visual thinking and visual learning must occur to communicate visually).
What was my Google Search: What are visual rhetorics?
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A definition: The term visual rhetoric falls under an umbrella term known as visual literacy, which is generally split into three categories: visual thinking, visual learning, visual rhetoric/communication (though clearly visual thinking and visual learning must occur to communicate visually).
What was my Google Search: What are rhetorics of comics?
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A definition: Digital rhetoric is communication that exists in the digital sphere. It can be expressed in many different forms, including text, images, videos, and software.[2] Due to the increasingly mediated nature of contemporary society, distinctions between digital and non-digital environments are less clear.[3] This has expanded the scope of digital rhetoric to account for the increased fluidity with which humans interact with technology.
What was my Google Search: What are digital rhetorics?
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A definition: Media Studies is the most obvious precursor to digital rhetoric in many respects— from McLuhan’s early work on persuasion in mass media in The Mechanical Bride and his widely influential Understanding Media to Henry Jenkins’s work on fan fiction and transmedia storytelling, there is a great deal of overlapping interest when it comes to the study of digital media and our interactions with it (Douglas Eyman).
I would also suggest that the focal point is also indicative of a distinct split between the two approaches: whereas classical rhetoric places the rhetor at the center and focuses on the rhetor-audience relationship, media studies places medium as the central object of study (Douglas Eyman).
What was my Google Search: What are digital rhetorics & clicked on “Looking Back and Looking Forward” Enculturation reading.
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A definition: The study and practice of making meaning and knowledge with the belief that all cultures are rhetorical, and all rhetorics are cultural (Mizzou).
What was my Google Search: What are cultural rhetorics?
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Definitions: The style of communication and persuasive strategies employed by Chicana women, often characterized by the reclamation of their identity, critique of dominant narratives, and a focus on issues like gender equality and social justice within the context of Mexican heritage, utilizing language and imagery that specifically resonates with communities to challenge oppressive power structures.
Chicana rhetoric when read alongside rhetoric studies demonstrates a shift in methodology that accounts for rhetoric collectively and connectively (Kendall Leon, 2010).
The rhetoricity of Malintzin's story allows Chicanas to persuade audiences about the value and worth of Chicana feminism (Miriam Fernandez, 2023).
What was my Google Search: What are chicana rhetorics?
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A definition: Relates to the rhetoric and discourse of borders, land, and citizenship.
What was my Google Search: What are border rhetorics?
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A definition: Emphasizes the narratives of all demographics, including women and other marginalized groups, into the consideration or practice of rhetoric. Feminist rhetoric does not focus exclusively on the rhetoric of women or feminists but instead prioritizes the feminist principles of inclusivity, community, and equality over the classic, patriarchal model of persuasion that ultimately separates people from their own experience.
What was my Google Search: What are feminist rhetorics?
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A definition: Native American rhetoric is the rhetoric used by Indigenous peoples for purposes of self-determination and self-naming, in academia and a variety of media.
What was my Google Search: What are indigenous rhetorics?
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A definition: The art of persuasion fused with African American ways of knowing in attempts to achieve in public realms personhood, dignity, and respect . . . for African American people” (Deborah Atwater).
The rhetorical use of language by African Americans in different forms, including music, film, memes, and literature. (DG Handley).
Utilizing ancient African oral traditions, philosophies, spirituality, languages, and texts to affirm African origins of rhetoric and its continued influence on the contemporary world. Although we cannot possibly name all of the subjects, points of inquiry, and scholars who have contributed to this disciplinary community, we briefly acknowledge the range of African American Rhetorics scholarship, such as: Black oral and literary traditions. (Ronisha Browdy & Esther Milu).
What was my Google Search: What are African American rhetorics?
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A definition: Hip Hop Rhetoric is also the rhetorical output of Hip Hop culture. The output may be in the form of lyrics (written and performed), musical beats, websites, magazines, interviews, and the visual rhetoric of music videos, dress, and even vehicular alterations.
What was my Google Search: What are hip hop rhetorics?
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A definition: The faculty of discovering in any case all the available means of persuasion (Aristotle).
What was my Google Search: What is classical rhetoric?
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A definition: Encompasses the way environmental situations or events (e.g., the climate crisis) are framed through writing, oration, conversation, etc.
What was my Google Search: What is environmental rhetoric?
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A definition: The rhetoric of food is all about the sharing and conveying ideas to others. It’s an experience that is shared between multiple people, and can take different forms, utilizing different rhetorical strategies. It can be something fun. Something informative. Something personal. The rhetoric of food is something that is everywhere and is completely unique from author to author (University of Texas at Austin).
What was my Google Search: What are food rhetorics?
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A definition: Concerns how language and symbols are used in health and medicine. As a subfield of rhetoric, medical rhetoric specifically analyzes and evaluates the structure, delivery, and intention of communications messages in medicine- and health-related contexts (i.e., patient-physician communication, health literacy, language that constructs disease knowledge, pharmaceutical advertising (direct to consumer and direct to physician advertising), among others.
What was my Google Search: What is rhetoric of health and medicine?
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A definition: The Rhetoric of Science is grounded in the assumption that rhetoric mediates the shape and influence of science. The rhetorical analysis of scientific texts brings attention to the persuasive dimensions of scientific and technologically mediated cultural artifacts (University of Pittsburgh).
What was my Google Search: What is science rhetoric?
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A definition: Refers to the language and communication strategies used within the field of fire science, often focusing on conveying complex scientific concepts about fire behavior, prevention, and mitigation to various audiences, including firefighters, policymakers, the public, and other professionals, while aiming to influence understanding, policy decisions, and safety practices related to fire hazards.
What was my Google Search: What is fire science rhetoric?
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A definition: Disability Studies (DS) centers the experiences of disabled people and emphasizes the role of the disability community in defining problems and evaluating solutions.
Over time, the tradition of using constructions of disability to mark excess has silenced or controlled disabled bodies as it has stifled the female body, the foreign body, the racialized body, and so on.
Naturally, with a definition of rhetoric as, simply, oratory and the use of the “controllable” body for persuasion, people with disabilities can be easily ignored (Jay Dolmage).
What was my Google Search: What is disability studies and what is disability rhetoric?
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