Teaching rhetorical production in a digital age calls for us to rethink our discipline's current distaste for writing mechanics. Yet, the digital mechanics of writing are much broader than grammatical concerns. They include production tools that allow for the invention and circulation of audio, visual, and Multigenre writing. (Contains 3 figures…

Argues that "divisio," an Aristotelian topic which entails partitioning a subject into components, is neglected by rhetoricians. Suggests that divisio empowers by creating knowledge and naming things but de-powers by creating absences and blocking creative alternatives. Notes that rhetoric strives for a balance between divisio and its…

Examines the history of the commonplace book and diary as used in teaching and relates this history to the advent of the pedagogical journal. Shows that certain teaching strategies can make the journal a valuable means of exploring the mix of public and private impulses found in all writing. (MG)

Explores the relationship between the traditional methods of teaching composition, beginning in the late nineteenth century and the cultural matrix in which it took shape. Describes the changing student demographics and the ritual mechanisms within a very well-defined sociocultural and pedagogical context. (HB)

Hans-Georg Gadamer proposes a philosophical hermeneutics that sheds light on the ways in which scholars have envisioned the history of teaching writing. Offering an alternative to a linear model of history, in which events are viewed as links in a chain, Gadamer's hermeneutics regards a text as a locus or web through which other texts are…

Those who wish to learn about the experience of women studying rhetoric and composition at American colleges 100 years ago can draw upon two sorts of histories. The story of women's entry into higher education is told by such historians as Mabel Newcomer and Barbara Solomon, but such historians seldom focus on composition studies specifically.…

Writing has always been connected to technology. Following the formation of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), cultural studies flourished in writing and communications classrooms because of activities related to the nexus between rhetoric and composition, communication theory, emergent technological mediums and…

Rhetorical studies of film and television arose more or less independently at a number of universities during the 1960s and 1970s. At Cornell University (New York), the accident of a combined speech and drama department gave rise to the study of the rhetoric of film. At the same time, other theorists were approaching film rhetoric from literature.…

Courses in communication theory in the 1990s may emphasize the social sciences, critical theory, or both, depending on the orientation of the professor. The modern field of communication in the United States arose after World War I in response to increasing technology and the progressive, pragmatic philosophy that has dominated American life.…

Based on the idea that an individual cannot understand literature, philosophy, or rhetoric without knowing the field's historical content, this book traces the evolution of the growing and ever-changing field of composition/rhetoric through numerous schools of thought, including Platonism, Aristoteleanism, New Criticism, and the current…

Although memory was one of the five canons of classical rhetoric, the more contemporary, narrower definition of memory as the training of the mind to remember certain things has eliminated memory as a useful rhetorical canon. However, teachers of writing who do regard memory highly, can redefine memory to restore it as one of the canons of…

Reflects upon the 40-year history of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. Calls upon conference members to "compose themselves," both historically through awareness of those who have studied writing in the past and subjectively through knowledge of those who have taught writing. Identifies characteristics and goals of…

Examines the classical rhetoric revival that occurred in American English departments in the 1950s and 1960s. Identifies rhetorician Richard M. Weaver as a leader of this "First Rhetorical Awakening." Argues that Weaver's work draws a connection between philosophical rhetoric and cultural criticism. Encourages further exploration of the…

An examination of the work of Fred Newton Scott and George Jardine can help composition scholars and teachers put their contributions into perspective and serve as a guide through present and future transitional periods in the field of composition. Following and composition revolution of the mid 20th century, many theories of composition promoted…

An examination of the grammatical, rhetorical, and composition theories of Gertrude Buck (associate professor of English at Vassar College from 1897 to 1922) testifies to her rebellion against the current-traditional rhetorical tradition. Perhaps most remarkable about her writing is its emergence during a historical period that was witnessing an…