Interdisciplinary Rhetoric Studies:
Writing // Linguistics // Philosophy // Music
David Landes
University of California, Santa Barbara
Advisors:
Sue McLeod (writing), Roy Vallis (rhetoric)
Susana Cumming (linguistics), Charles Bazerman (education), John Hajda (music)
Rhetoric: the study of how people use language and other symbols (music, film,
photography, images, etc.) to realize human goals and carry out human
activities. . . ultimately a practical study offering people greater
control over their symbolic activity (Charles
Bazerman, Shaping
Written Knowledge)
An Early Sketch of the Major
The modern rhetorician investigates the ways symbols (i.e. words, images, sounds, signs, enactments, conventions) derive meaning, accrue cognitive force, and shape the social landscape. Similar to breathing oxygen, we all are users of the system but few know how it works. The ease of inhaling unconsciously hides its tremendously complex operation as a machine of dynamic mechanisms interacting in constant harmony.
But the mechanisms behind rhetoric are not physical, and they are not self-contained inside our chests—-the first job of the rhetorician is to find them. It requires shrewd analysis and deconstructive introspection. Rhetoric, infamously, is elusive. Meaning-making machines are amorphous, residing both inside and outside our bodies, partly tangible, partly intangible, and manifesting in forms anew.
Converging methods of linguistic, epistemological, social, and performance theory, the Writing and Rhetoric major trains rhetorical engineers who double as analysts of rhetorical systems and artisans of language as a strategically shaped tool. Students investigate the multidimensional (and often implicit) aspects of rhetorical activity to understand and utilize them better.
The major marshals theory and practice from several disciplines. Coursework loosely divides into the following dimensions of language:
- “what to do”:
Practice - The Craft of Writing
- “why you do it”:
Theory - to Aid Practice
- “the tools you do it with”: Language Theory
- “persuasion”:
Argumentation Theory, Persuasive Dimensions to Language
- "the playing field”: Cultural Dimensions to Language
- Meta-Theory: Adapting Rhetoric to Contemporary Praxis
* = course in
multiple categories
Practice - The Craft of Writing (“what to do”)
Writ 1 Approaches to University Writing – Principles of critical
reading, thinking, and writing in the university. Students analyze academic
discourse, develop rhetorical strategies for exposition and argument, practice
examination writing, and write and revise papers.
Writ 2 Academic Writing – A writing course focusing on developing
analytical skills, synthesizing multiple sources, sustaining coherent
arguments, and revising for clarity of style. Reading and writing assignments
are drawn from a range of academic disciplines.
Writ 50 Writing and the Research Process – A writing course
addressing the analytical skills underlying the research process of academic
and professional communities.
Writ 105RW Rhetoric Writing* – Traces the history, theory and
practice of rhetoric (effective persuasion) from classical times to the modern
era. Students analyze key works and apply rhetorical strategies in written
argumentation.
Writ 151A Seminar in Professional Editing I – Focus on grammatical
and rhetorical expertise, genre and format, diction, style, tone, visuals,
documentation style. Class projects include working as editors to help authors
prepare texts for publication.
Writ 151B Seminar in Professional Editing II – Continuation of
Writ 151A
Writ 156 Grammar and Stylistics* – Focuses on grammar and
stylistics for professional writers and editors. The emphasis is practical and
analytical, attending to issues of sentence structure and diction, and on the
diversity of styles, formats, and audiences.
Theory to Aid Practice (“why you do it”)
Writ 105RW Rhetoric and Writing* – Traces the history, theory and
practice of rhetoric (effective persuasion) from classical times to the modern
era. Students analyze key works and apply rhetorical strategies in written
argumentation.
Writ 156 Grammar and Stylistics – Functionalist grammar: Focuses on
grammar and stylistics for professional writers and editors. The emphasis is
practical and analytical, attending to issues of sentence structure and
diction, and on the diversity of styles, formats, and audiences.
Ling 160 The Structure of English – Formalist grammar:
Introduction to the phonological, morphological, syntactic, and discourse
features of contemporary English.
Ling 50 Language and Power – The linguistic devices of
manipulation/power: Examination of the way social roles and relations are
constructed and maintained via language, including the nature of linguistic and
conceptual categories and the role of metaphor in domains ranging from everyday
interaction to advertising and political discourse.
Ling 124 Discourse Analysis – Modes of discourse format and their
resulting characteristics: Basic concepts in the study of discourse,
including differences between spoken and written language; conversational
structure; structure of narrative and expository texts; information flow; and
implications for the study of grammar.
Comm
1 Introduction to Communication*
– Survey of basic concepts, principles, and models of communication.
Introduction to the importance of communication in intrapersonal,
interpersonal, small group, organizational, and mass media contexts.
Writ
199 (4x) Independent Studies in Writing: Rhetorical Synthesis of Concurrent
Courses*
Writ
297 Senior Thesis
– The Rhetorical Situation of Search Engine Optimization. Advisor:
Karen J. Lunsford
Language Theory (“the tools you do it with”)
Ling 20 Introduction to Linguistics – Language’s constituent
anatomy and physiology: An introduction to the scientific study of language
Phil 100C Philosophy of Language – Introduction to philosophical
problems and theories concerning the nature of language. Topics typically
include the notion of linguistic structure, theories of meaning and reference,
names and descriptions, the relations between language and thought, necessity
and analytic truth, and conversational norms.
Ling 113 Introduction to Semantics – Contemporary issues of
lexical meaning: Consideration of semantic fields, semantic components,
semantic relations, categories, prototypes, frames, metaphor, pragmatics,
indexicality, and speech acts.
Ling 109 Introduction to Syntax – Issues of meaning in word order
& phrasal units: Similarities and differences among languages in the
grammatical devices they use to signal relations between nouns and verbs,
negation, comparison, attribution (adjectives), and backgrounding.
Ling 127 The Psychology of Language – An examination of the
psychological foundations of language structure and use, including the
cognitive processes involved in the comprehension, production and recall of
words, sentences, and discourse; first and second language acquisition;
relationships among language, brain, cognition, and culture.
Writ 125 Historical Survey of Rhetoric and Rhetorical Theory* –
Rhetorical theory from ancient Greece to the present.
Argumentation Theory (“persuasion”)
Writ 125 Historical Survey of Rhetoric and Rhetorical Theory* –
Rhetorical theory from ancient Greece to the present.
Writ 105RW Rhetoric and Writing* – Traces the history, theory and
practice of rhetoric (effective persuasion) from classical times to the modern
era. Students analyze key works and apply rhetorical strategies in written
argumentation.
Phil 1 Intro to Philosophy
(Phil 3 Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking)
Phil 20B History of Philosophy
Phil
100E Metaphysics
– Introduction to the philosophical study of the most general and fundamental
features of reality. Topics vary, but may include universals, particulars,
identity and individuation, substance, the nature of persons, causation, and
the nature of time.
Phil 152 Plato
(Phil 153 Aristotle)
Phil 183 Beginning Modern Logic – This course is an introduction to the study of correct reasoning--drawing inferences, distinguishing good arguments from bad ones, seeing one's way from assumptions to their consequences. Reasoning is a cognitive process or activity employed in mathematics and other disciplines, as well as in everyday decision making, problem solving, argumentation, and discussion. We shall study the principles and techniques of correct reasoning by developing an artificial symbolic system of "natural deduction," which closely mirrors, but sharpens and systematizes, the patterns of ordinary reasoning that we engage in every day.
Math 8 Transition To Higher Math: Intro To Proofs – Introduction to the elements of propositional logic, techniques of mathematical proof, and fundamental mathematical structures including sets, functions, relations, and other topics as time permits.
Cultural Dimensions to Language (“culture is the arena—know the playing field”)
Writ
105RW Rhetoric and Writing
– Reading and writing rhetorical texts, contemporary social issues*
Ling 30 The Story of English – A taste of diachronic linguistics
i.e. language through time and socio-cultural change: The evolution of English
from its Germanic origins to its present status as a lingua franca among the
world's cultures. Topics include influences from other languages, English-based
creoles, the major contemporary dialects, and the concept of Standard English.
Comm 1 Introduction to Communication* – Survey of basic concepts,
principles, and models of communication. Introduction to the importance of
communication in intrapersonal, interpersonal, small group, organizational, and
mass media contexts.
Ling 130 Language as Culture – An introduction to the study of
language in its cultural setting: the effect of culture on the linguistic
system, as well as the effect of the system on the culture; language in
relation to cognitive categories, both universal and culture-specific; language
in relation to social roles (e.g., male, female).
Ling 170 Language in Social Interaction – Investigation of the
roles language plays in social interaction, as well as how individuals use
language to shape relationships with others within or across social groups, and
how patterns of linguistic interaction constitute patterns of social
organization. Emphasis on hands-on analysis of transcriptions and recordings of
face-to-face interaction.
ArtHist 113 Visual Culture – Critical ways of approaching and understanding a wide range of visual materials and images (paintings, ads, videos, etc.). Analytic approaches to culture and representation are used as a means of developing descriptive and interpretive skills.
Meta-Theory: Theories of Cultured Writing Through Time
Writ 125 Historical Survey of Rhetoric and Rhetorical Theory* –
Rhetorical theory from ancient Greece to the present.
Ed
199 Directed Study Under Charles Bazerman – A one on one study to "walk
the rhetorical landscape" addressing issues such as genre,
intertextuality, the rhetoric of money, Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Voloshinov, and a
critical approach to the rhetorical cannon and the research institution.
Eng
113 Critical Theory
– An introduction to modern and contemporary literary theory focusing on
"formalism" and anti-formalism as sustained motifs of
twentieth-century interpretation of literature. Readings in American New
Criticism (Ransom, Brooks, Wimsatt), Russian Formalism (Shklovsky, Tomashevsky,
Eichenbaum), structuralism (Saussure, Lévi-Strauss), deconstruction (Barthes,
Derrida, de Man), feminist theory (Cixous, Irigaray), cultural studies and New
Historicism (Foucault, Geertz, Montrose, Greenblatt), and theory of
postmodernism (Jameson, Haraway, Deleuze and Guattari).
Eng
25 Introduction to Literature and the Culture of Information – This course studies contemporary
information culture from the viewpoint of the humanities and arts. What is
information, and why is it so important that it not only affects our economy,
politics, and society but also our culture (the culture of "cool," it
has been called) and our arts (the "new media" literatures, arts,
music, and games). The course brings writings about information society
together with works of new-media literature and art to study the following
aspects of information: information as media, communication, and "new
media"; information as work and power; and information as identity.
Required readings are in print (e.g., Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49,
William Gibson's novel, Neuromancer), on the Web, and on CD-ROM (M. D.
Coverley's hypertext novel, Califia).
Writ
199 (4x) Independent Studies in Writing: Rhetorical Synthesis of Concurrent
Courses*
Coursework by discipline:
|
Philosophy |
|
|
Philosophy
Courses |
Other
Theory Courses |
|
Phil 1 Intro to Philosophy |
Writ 125 Historical Survey of Rhetoric and Rhetorical
Theory |
|
Writing |
|
Courses |
|
Writ 1 Approaches to University Writing |
|
Linguistics |
|
|
Courses |
|
|
Ling 20 Introduction to Linguistics |
Ling 124 Discourse Analysis |
|
Music |
|
|
Courses |
|
|
Mus 8 (2x) Music
Composition |
Mus 114 Music and Pop Culture Tested out of first two theory courses: Mus 11 & Mus 5A |
|
Other
Relevant courses |
|
Class 36 Ancient Epic
(Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid) |
Feedback welcomed: DavidBLandes@gmail.com