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6. Writing Program Redesign: Learning from Ethnographic Inquiry, Civic Rhetoric, and the History of Rhetorical Education
- State University of New York Press
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In two of the most dynamic eras of its historical development, rhetoric was dialectically involved with accounting for cultural differences , formalizing social conventions, and translating shared beliefs into practical action. This ethnographic dimension is vital if the civic tradition in rhetoric and moral philosophy is to be more than a source of nostalgia for lost republican virtue. —Thomas Miller, “Rhetoric Within and Without Composition” IN A RECENT ISSUE OF Rhetoric Society Quarterly devoted to feminist historiography , Rich Enos asks, “How can we bring rhetorical events back to life and make them as vivid and meaningful as our colleagues in composition?” He goes on to explain, “gains in composition studies that have been achieved by using ethnographic research methods can serve as an illustration for historians of rhetoric who can hope for similar achievements . . .” (68). As both a historian of rhetoric and a writing program administrator (WPA) at a large urban campus, I find it interesting that both Miller (himself a WPA and a fine historian) and Enos evoke the “ethnographic dimension” in their calls to “bring rhetorical 99 6 Writing Program Redesign Learning from Ethnographic Inquiry, Civic Rhetoric, and the History of Rhetorical Education LYNÉE LEWIS GAILLET events back to life.” Connections between culture and rhetoric have been the focus of scholarship in rhetoric-composition for over two decades. In his opening statement for the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) 1988 Octolog Panel, Bob Connors (another WPA and fine historian) asked how “culture created rhetoric, and how [has] rhetoric then recreated the culture?” (7). He concluded with the following edict: “Meaningful historical writing must teach us what people in the past have wanted from literacy so that we may come to understand what we want” (7). Connors’s 1988 words were prophetic, evidenced in his field by the recent proliferation of published nineteenth -century studies that redefine archival research, methodology, and rhetorical history in terms of social exigencies. Additionally, most of these recent histories concerning nineteenth-century developments in rhetoric-composition adopt the idea or practice of civic rhetoric as a cornerstone for their research and often culminates in a plea to restore instruction in civic rhetoric to the composition classroom. This “plea” for a reexamination of civic rhetoric in nineteenthcentury scholarship is echoed in the current scholarship of other rhetorical periods as well. Recently, however, the rhetoric-culture strand of scholarship in the field has increasingly embraced civic rhetoric’s connections to and implications for adopting ethnographic pedagogy—herein lies the hope for breathing life into rhetorical events and moving beyond nostalgic considerations of an education based on civic tradition and moral philosophy. Consider the impact of civic rhetoric (along with accompanying pedagogical strategies) on textbook production, a sometimes-useful way of gauging a theory’s chances for survival. The last two decades of composition studies witnessed the publication of classical rhetoric texts that adopted traditional-classical pedagogical exercises designed for first-year writing classes—works that naturally include discussions and exercises in civic rhetoric (see Horner, Crowley and Hawhee; D’Angelo). These texts are gaining popularity, but unfortunately are not yet (and perhaps never will be) widely adopted, in part because teachers are often uncomfortable or resistant to teaching the classical tradition or maybe because teachers and students alike do not make the necessary leap required to translate the study of historical rhetoric into an active skill. However, other recent composition texts— fueled by composition theories and practices such as service learning, ethnographic methodologies, and social process approaches to composition instruction—are reviving theories and practices of civic rhetoric in writing classes in visible ways. These popular texts indirectly offer contemporary applications of ancient rhetorical principles tangibly connected to both students ’ self-interests and community-based research. For both rhetoric and composition, ethnographic inquiry and community-based research and rhetorical engagement promises to expand notions of civic rhetoric beyond traditional agonistic conceptions of “the good man speaking well,” intensify in 100 Lynée Lewis Gaillet [35.175.236.44] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:56 GMT) both subfields an interest in conducting primary research, and to give vitality and immediacy to two courses of study often considered arcane on the one hand and simply utilitarian on the other.This chapter discusses the recent role this revival can play in transforming composition instruction, filtering my discussion of civic rhetoric in curriculum design through the lens of eighteenthand nineteenth-century classes in moral philosophy, the contemporary concept of the metropolitan university philosophy of education, and the...