This course adopts a rhetoric and communications framework for the purpose of conducting an intensive study of the concept of the public sphere, everyday processes of communal discourse and negotiation. It examines written, spoken, visual, gestural, and other texts that mediate relations among people in civic spaces. It may include such topics as the definition of the term "public sphere," the history of public discourse, the relationship between state and civil society, the ethics of public texts and power, the impact of the media in narrating public events, and the textual "handling" of social tensions. Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and the former RHET-3401. Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and RHET-3401.
Prerequisites
Completion of 42 credit hours (prerequisite).
