Public Discourse and Personal Expression

Written Communication Oct 1990

Public Discourse and Personal Expression

GREGORY CLARK ; STEPHEN DOHENY-FARINA

Abstract

The authors recount their attempt to analyze a case study in terms of two conflicting rhetorics: a collectivist rhetoric that values most the contributions individuals make to an ongoing collective project and an individualist rhetoric that values most the original and autonomous voice. These two rhetorics conflict in the experience of one writer working concurrently in a literature seminar within a university English department and in the public relations office of a reproductive services agency. This conflict, centering on different rhetorical ethics, had less to do with competence than with commitment: the writer's commitment to the individualist ethics practiced in the writing she did in the literature seminar prevented her from valuing the writing she did at the agency that worked toward a collectivist end. The authors then examine how this analysis is problematized by alternative interpretations of this case that demonstrate that the collectivist rhetoric practiced by researchers and theorists of writing itself involves the interaction of conflicting individualist assertions. This analysis suggests that the most useful theoretical insights any case might provide into the question of how writing ought to be taught are embodied in the exchange of interpretations that case provokes and in the confrontation of diverse arguments that emerge from that exchange.

Journal: Written Communication
Published: 1990-10-01
DOI: 10.1177/0741088390007004002
Open Access: Closed
Topics: qualitative research public rhetoric voice and style

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (2)

Halloran (1987)

Rhetoric and the English department

Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Bruffee (1984)

Collaborative Learning and the "Conversation of Mankind"

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Also cites 2 works outside this index ↓

10.2307/377477

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10.2307/462476

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CrossRef global citation count: 15 View in citation network →