Critical Social Inquiry 0171 - Intro to Public Speaking

Do you want to use your voice to change the world? In this introductory public speaking course, students will learn to analyze public speech and to cultivate their own courageous voices. The course will pay particular attention to the ways in which speakers use their voices in protest against contemporary injustices-testifying, bearing witness, disrupting, and mobilizing for action. Critically examining dominant discourse conventions or "the rules" (e.g. standardized English, politeness, etc.) through a sociopolitical lens, students will be supported in purposefully navigating or rejecting speaking conventions that reinforce the systems they seek to transform. In other words, each speaker will craft their own voice in order to honor who they are and achieve their unique aims. Necessarily, the course will also examine the critical role of radical listening in public spaces. Activities in this discussion-intensive course include reading essays, viewing a wide range of speeches (videos and live), delivering a series of in-class student speeches, writing analytical essays, and meeting for individual sessions with a Transformative Speaking Program peer mentor, among others.

Power, Community and Social Justice Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research