CCPA midterm

What is Rhetoric:

humans use of symbols to communicate

All symbols are human

What are symbols:

things that are arbitrary but still is powerrful

What’s an example of symbols

names

What is the goal of rhetoric?

to communicate what’s in my head to yours

Define Rhetorical criticism:

Qualitative research method designed for systematic investigation and explanation of symbolic artifacts for how people communicate

What are the 3 dimensions of rhetoric:

Humans create it

Symbols are the medium

communication is the goal

What’s the background on neo-Aristotelian criticism

Aka traditional criticism

created in 1952 and was the first rhetoric criticism

still used but uncommon in journals

What is the primary goal of neo-Aristotelian

measure the effectiveness of public address, single source oratory.

What are the 4 canons, rubric, aristotle uses for speeches

Invention: content (etho pathos logos)

Arrangement: organization

Style: the language and literary devices

Delivery: oral and physical presentation

What are the benefits of neo-Aristotelian criticism

systematic evaluation

Provides a measure objectivity in determining the effectiveness of a speech

long history so there are plenty of examples

What are the drawbacks of Neo-Aristotelian criticism

limited in scope to single source oratory

ignore historical, cultural, and moral context

has been overly focused on elites

ignores non rational appeals

Aristotle was prescriptive not descriptive, and criticism is descriptive

What is the artifact for Neo

a public address, best suited for single source oratory

What are the steps to analyze the artifact for Neo

Step 1: reconstruct the context in which speech occurred (rhetorical situation, historical, rhetors goal)

Step 2: Analyz the speech base on Aristotle canons

Step 3: Asses impact/reaction of audience

What is the research question for Neo

Did the rhetor use the available means of persuasion to evoke the intended response from the audience?

What does narrative criticism focus on?

stories

What is a story?

Must included at least 2 events

events must be related to each other temporarily

must be a casual or contributing relationship among events

events are unified about subject

Purpose of stories?

Understand ourselves

inform of history and culture

created understanding of present and future

reinforce and challenge ideologies

persuasive appeals

What are assumptions of narrative critic

humans are storytellers

judge world based off “good reasons” we get from stories: narrative fidelity

Always involve audience

Narrative Analysis steps

step 1: identify objectives in narrative

step 2: discover how various features/strategies of narrative accomplish objective

step 3: evaluate the narrative based on objective

What is ideology?

a pattern of beliefs that determine a groups interpretation of some aspect of the world

gives us a common picture of reality

Ideology is a mental framework that manifest itself through

categories: gender, mental health, race, religion (factual)

language: words we use and how we say it

concepts: love marriage gender, race (reflects what’s importance to us)

imagery of thought: what you correlate thoughts to image

systems of representation: difference in sex & gender, what does it mean to be a women

Ideology is identified in the following dimensions:

Knowledge

Eco and Politics

Gender

Sexuality

Race

power and control

Psychology

Tech

Ideologic criticism is:

analysis beyond the surface structure of an artifact to discover the beliefs, values, and assumptions it suggest

Assumptions of ideological criticism

• multiples ideologies exist in any culture and have the potential to be manifest in rhetorical artifacts

• Ideologies are oppositional: Dom and Subm

What is hegemony?

Privileging one ideology while repressing another

What are the points of hegemony ideology?

• experiences support the interest of those with more power

• controls what participants see as natural (norm)

• to maintain the dominant ideology must be renewed, reinforced, and defended continually through the use and rhetorical strategies and practices

• the rise of dominant ideology is not always deliberate and conscious

Analysis of ideology criticism

step 1: identify present elements (look at surface level)

step 2: identify suggest elements linked to present

step 3: formulate ideology

step 4: identify the function

What is feminism:

a social and political movement aimed at improving the lives of women

Assumption for feminism:

1. equal opportunity for self-expression

2. cultural context privilege males (experiences, expressions, and enterprise) over females

3. many feminists don’t believe that feminism is ONLY for women

4. oppression nature of our culture can be changed through equality, immanent value (all humans have value), and self determination (live your own life)

5. primary means of changing our culture is disruption

1st Core objectives of feminist criticism:

Communication practices of women are used as a heuristic device for studying how communication practices in general can be used to disrupt hegemonies or standard perspectives and practices

Heuristic devices: construct used to aid social phenomena

Hegemony: dom and sub ideology

2 & 3 core objective of feminist criticism:

2. Decolonize mind from oppressive actions, thinking, or being

Decolonize: breaking from dom ways of thinking and asserting own perspective

3. Preserve the history and contributions of early feminist activist and scholars

Procedure for analyzing the artifact with Feminist Criticism:

Step 1: identify and explicate the strategies used in the artifacts to disrupt hegemonies

• (generate multiple perspectives, cultivating ambiguity, reframing/shift perspective, enacting, juxtaposing incongruities)

Step 2: explore impact of strategies of disruption

For feminist criticism what is generating multiple perspectives?

deliberately presenting alternate views on a subject, however we know what the dominant one is

For feminist criticism what is cultivating ambiguity?

messages are constructed unclear, ineact, and open to multiple interpretation

For feminist criticism what is reframing

shifting perspectives to view a situation from a different point of view

For feminist criticism what is enacting

Individuals act out an interpretation of a situation this is counter to the one normally accept- embody the point they are making about the new reality they desire

For feminist criticism, what is juxtaposing incongruities

merge categories that are typically believed to be mutually exclusive