Kuffner 1

Leah Kuffner Leslie Wolcott ENC 3331 09 April 2014

Rhetoric, Citizenship and Rhetorical Citizenship RHETORIC. When many people think about rhetoric, they think of empty, bombastic language that has no substance (Foss). Because of this colloquial understanding of rhetoric, it is complicated to define rhetoric in the context of academic thinking. With this course (and others that Ive taken within the Public and Professional Writing Certificate), the understanding of rhetoric that I had gathered throughout my life was debunked and made much more complex. As said by Bizzell and Herzberg, [i]t is less helpful to try to define [rhetoric] once and for all than to look at the many definitions it has accumulated over the years and to attempt to understand how each arose and how each still inhabits and shapes the field. This definition is probably the closest to what I believe about rhetoric. Because the idea of rhetoric has been around for thousands of years, it is impossible to define it without looking at the context in which it was born and the changes in thought since the origin of rhetoric in 2300 B.C. (Binkley). In such a span of time, its impractical to imagine that an idea has not grown in some capacity. Therefore, the history of this idea and the contributions that have been made to it over the years are impossible to ignore. With all of the writing on rhetoric that has taken place since 2300 B.C., it would seem as if there is no way to find a piece of writing that doesnt fit into someones definition of rhetoric in some capacity.

Kuffner 2

In almost all writing, the writer is trying to convince the reader of something, whether its as obvious as giving directions or as subtle as a moral to be drawn from a piece of fiction. Because of my outlook on writing, I think that almost every piece of writing qualifies as rhetoric, from status updates on Facebook to journal-published academic articles. This in conjunction with the history of rhetoric as mentioned above and the complicated nature of defining an abstract idea that has been around for so long has molded my opinion on rhetoric. While listening to other students defining rhetoric in their own terms, it has allowed me to understand that everyone has a different opinion of it and a different opinion on the most important aspects of it. In my opinion, rhetoric has no real requirements. While many argue that rhetoric must be text, I believe that images trying to make an argument also qualify as rhetoric. Rhetoric can be made out of any text or any image if the text or image is working toward an end. CITIZENSHIP. Citizenship is another idea that many people tend to have overly-simplistic perspectives on. Before this class, I thought of citizenship exclusively as something of a legal title that you needed to vote or get a job. As explained by Wan, Citizenship becomes an easy trope to deploy because of its immediate associations with positive civic activities such as voting (30). This is the sort of definition that I have gathered throughout the years, but this is another one that has been altered through this class and the readings weve gone through. Throughout this course, my definition of citizenship has broadened vastly as well. I understand citizenship as much more than a basic right that Americans are born with and a privilege that immigrants earn after passing a test. Citizens are expected to participate actively in their society and contribute in some capacity. According to Wan, a good citizen is one who participates, who is engaged, who can critique society, and who is a productive, satisfied member

Kuffner 3

of the nation, using advanced literacy skills as a means to achieve these civic acts (33). This is a much more complex and demanding idea of citizenship than a person who has the ability to vote and get a job. My idea of citizenship has transformed a great deal from where it was when I entered the course to where it is now. I can think critically about the way that citizenship can be differentiated from its dictionary definition in order to understand the multitude of ideas behind a word. However, before this course, I simply didnt question my understanding of citizenship. Since taking this course, I have a more complex understanding of citizenship and what comprises it according to many people. Citizenship is more about being involved in ones society and community than simply the ability to vote. While many people are citizens in the legal sense, many fewer are citizens in the sense that they are active contributors to their communities. RHETORICAL CITIZENSHIP. According to these two definitions, Rhetorical Citizenship is being engaged with ones community in a way that uses images or text to make an argument. As might be predictable through my previous statements, when I entered this course, I had no idea what Rhetorical Citizenship was. Simply the combination of words Rhetorical Citizenship was enough to make me cringe in dread of what they could mean. However, after this course, I have a better understanding of the manner in which Rhetorical Citizenship helps a community to function and is, in many ways, necessary for any modern society. Rhetorical Citizenship allows the people in control (ex: the government) to modify laws and policies to better accommodate the people that are affected by them. RHETORICAL CITIZENSHIP IN ENC 3331.

Kuffner 4

While I do not believe that just riding the bus is enough to claim Rhetorical Citizenship, after writing my post for the TrIP blog, I feel that I have become engaged with my community. Because the blog post allowed me to communicate with a theoretical public (theoretical assuming that someone actually read this post), I was able to share my experience with another person in an attempt to invoke change in some way. While the person who read my post may not have actually done anything about my post or what my post made them feel, it almost definitely made them think about something, whether they agreed with me or not. This semester, I also volunteered for Junior Achievement and was given the opportunity to teach a lesson to a class of 8th grade students. Through the Junior Achievement program, I feel that I was able to interact with a group of students in a way that could be considered Rhetorical Citizenship. While I didnt entirely agree with the lessons that I was presenting to them, I was communicating with them and invoking change in their lives by providing them with the information that Junior Achievement placed in their lessons.

Kuffner 5

Works Cited Bizzell, Patricia and Bruce Herzberg. General Introduction. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2001. 1. Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. 2nd ed. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1996. 4. Binkley, Roberta. The Rhetoric of Origins and the Other: Reading the Ancient Figure of Enheduanna. Rhetoric Before and Beyond the Greeks. Albany: State University of New York, 2004. 47-63. PDF. Wan, Amy J. In the Name of Citizenship: The Writing Classroom and the Promise of Citizenship. College English 74.1 (2011): 28-49. PDF.