The Rhetoric of Resistance
COMM 5840

  Professor:                   Jeff Bennett
Office:                          GAB 334
Office Hours:               T/TH:  12:45-1:45 and by appointment
E-Mail:                        bennett@unt.edu

  Required Texts:                      

Course Overview

  The discipline of communication studies has commonly explored rhetorics of resistance in their more extraordinary forms.  For decades scholars have offered close attention to discourses employed and produced by social movements, vocal dissenters, and individual transgressors.  While such rhetorics are undoubtedly significant, less focus has been offered to more quotidian practices of resistance that shape our cultural polity.  In this course we will offer particular consideration to everyday practices of resistance, examining the discourses that produce change and defy social domination.  Although grounded in a perspective that stresses the import of rhetoric as a constitutive force, this class is interdisciplinary in nature, incorporating scholarship and cases studies of resistance from performance theory, media studies, queer theory, and cultural studies.  Starting with Michel Foucault, the class will move through major impulses in communication studies exploring resistance, including the works of Michel de Certeau and bell hooks, as well as theoretical issues engaging “counterpublics,” “the body,” and “space.”  Course participants are encouraged and invited to bring their personal experiences and projects to the table in order to more clearly articulate the multifaceted ways in which rhetoric and resistance inform and shape our everyday lives. 

Access

The university appropriately complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which allows reasonable accommodations to be provided for students with specific physical, cognitive, sensory or learning disabilities.  If any student needs such arrangements, they should inform me immediately.  This course should be accessible to all students, and I’m eager to provide a comfortable learning environment.

Participant Responsibilities

Ø      All course participants will post informal “reactions” to the readings to the rest of the class each week on-line.  Your post should be thoughtful and reflective, posted no later than 10:00 pm. on Tuesday evening.  Your reaction could take many forms, including a series of questions posed by the readings, an informed critique, or an engagement of several readings.  I will leave the form and content to your creativity, but all the posts should relate directly to the essays being explored.  Be sure to include the date in the subject line.  Also, be certain to mark the subject line with a comment like “original reaction” that indicates this is your original review, as opposed to “reaction to Mango,” indicating a response to a classmate.  We will use these comments as starting points for discussion through the semester, so all course participants are responsible for reading all posts prior to coming to class (responses and participation, 20% of final grade).     

Ø      All course participants will turn in three papers.  The first will be a two-page proposal of your final project for the class.  You should include a preliminary thesis statement and the ways in which literature relating to the course relates to your project (10% of final grade).

Ø      All students will turn in a prospectus for their final paper, which should be about five-pages in length.  The prospectus should build on your proposal, advancing the thesis and outlining the arguments you will engage in the final paper (20% of final grade). 

Ø      The final paper should advance an argument about some aspect of the rhetoric of resistance, being approximately 12 pages in length.  It is expected that this paper will be submitted for presentation at a scholarly conference (50% final grade).  

Ø      All course participants are expected to actively participate in class discussion.  It is what we make of it – so let’s have a good time while we learn a few things. 

If you have a problem complying with a deadline, you must give me reasonable notice and other arrangements can be made.  Plagiarism will never be tolerated. Graduate work is graded with the following in mind:    

“B” papers/projects: The assignment guidelines are barely met. These papers/projects utilize little or no thought as evidenced by the neglect of the topic, unclear thesis, poor writing, disorganization, a lack of source material, or a seeming distance from the course concepts.  

“B+” papers/projects: These papers/projects meet the requirements as noted on the assignment sheet. The examples used are not original on the part of the author (i.e., they are all borrowed from class) and often not tied explicitly into the thesis of the paper.  Assertions are not substantiated with evidence or are underdeveloped throughout. 

“A-” papers/projects: Some thought has clearly been put into these papers/projects. A few connections are made between the course material and the assignment, though content may be slightly underdeveloped. The thesis is clear, the assignment is structured properly, there are few errors in spelling and grammar, and source material is cited throughout.      

“A” papers/projects: These projects are outstanding in their ability to think through a topic clearly and creatively, offering new insights to course conversations. Source materials are referenced appropriately, with no spelling or grammar errors, and a clear structure to the writing.  The assignment advances a thesis and supports it with evidence, never straying from the subject-matter on-hand.  

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