College Composition and Communication Jun 2006

Service Learning and Social Change: The Case for Materialist Rhetoric

David Coogan

Abstract

A materialist rhetoric in service learning is needed to teach students how to discover the arguments that already exist in the communities they wish to serve; analyze the effectiveness of those arguments; collaboratively produce viable alternatives with community partners; and assess the impact of their interventions. Through a discussion of a project that attempted but failed to increase parent involvement in Chicago’s public schools, this article shows why rhetorical production needs to be supported by the kind of rhetorical analysis that reveals how institutions exercise power. Materialist rhetoric challenges students, teachers, and community partners to write for social change and define change concretely, in terms of institutional practices or policies that they wish to influence.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2006-06-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc20065063
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism service learning
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (11)

  1. Bay et al. (2021)
    Rhetorics of data in nonprofit settings: How community engagement pedagogies ca…
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  2. Goodwin (2020)
    Embodied Subjectivities and the City: Intervening in Local Public Debates throu…
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  3. Glavan (2020)
    Toward a Personally Situated Approach to Advocacy: Expanding Community-Engaged …
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Teston et al. (2019)
    The Grind of Multimodal Work in Professional Writing Pedagogies
    Computers and Composition
  5. Catchings (2019)
    Bodily Instruments: Somatic Metaphor in Prison-Based Research
    Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
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  1. Lettner-Rust (2014)
    Plowing Fertile Ground in Farmville: Acknowledging a Rhetoric of Conversation
    Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
  2. DeGenaro (2010)
    The Affective Dimensions of Service Learning
    Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
  3. Walsh (2010)
    Constructive Interference: Wikis And Service Learning In The Technical Communic…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Scott (2008)
    The Practice of Usability: Teaching User Engagement Through Service-Learning
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Long (2008)
    Educating Future Public Workers: Can We Make Inquiry Professional?
    Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
  6. Alexander (2007)
    Reciprocal Literacy Sponsorship in Service-Learning Settings
    Literacy in Composition Studies

References (0)

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