Topic: Text and Context

This seminar will focus on historical context as it relates to the
study of rhetorical texts (as conceived by seminar members themselves-- so
that such texts could be  speeches, films, books, pamphlets, ads,
performative rhetoric, and the like). We will first discuss the notion of
context, the various kinds of contexts (political, aesthetic, social,
intellectual, etc. ), and the relevance of differing contexts to specific
texts;  discussions will be based on readings, which might include
selections from such works as:  Kammen, _In the Past Lane: Historical
Perspectives on American Culture_ , Tilton, _Pocahontas: The Evolution of
An American Narrative_, Appleby, Hunt, and Jacob, _Telling the Truth About
History_, Cohen _History in Three Keys_, Anderson, _Imagined Communities_,
Mailloux, _Rhetorical Power, Ceaser, _Reconstructing America_. The major
project for the course will be a research paper that focuses on the
relationship of context to a particular text(s). This paper could be a
draft of a paper to be submitted for presentation at a conference, a
colloquium paper, a chapter of a dissertation, etc. This course is open to
M.A. and Ph.D. students. The course is also listed as an American Studies
course.