Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Apr 2014 Open Access

Plowing Fertile Ground in Farmville: Acknowledging a Rhetoric of Conversation

Heather Lettner-Rust

Abstract

This article analyzes the importance of conversation employed by students working with community stakeholders in a civic writing seminar. Acknowledging Lloyd Bitzer’s seminal work on the rhetorical situation and Burke’s concept of identification provides a strong background of the students’ understanding of the civic sphere; however, medieval rhetorician Madeleine de Scudéry’s (1683) provocative treatise, “On Conversation,” reminds us to expand the arena of civic discourse. Scholar Jane Donawerth’s recovery of Scudéry’s treatise suggests the power of private discourse as more useful than public rhetoric. This article concludes that theorizing the rhetorical situation alone proves inadequate to energize young rhetors’ discourse needed to engage public civic agencies and actors to action.

Journal
Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
Published
2014-04-01
DOI
10.59236/rjv13i2pp28-46
CompPile
Open Access
OA PDF Gold
Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis service learning archival research public rhetoric
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