This course provides an introduction to the major ideas and concepts of rhetorical and performance studies and their contributions to social action. Students will be introduced to the thinkers and movements in rhetoric and performance most significant to how we understand ourselves: the ways we represent and remember our pasts, live our presents (presence), and imagine our futures. Theories of rhetoric and performance will be connected to each other and to our communication practices to examine how theories can be deployed as part of the art of living our lives.

This course is an introduction to the process of media production, with a special focus on the institutional forces (i.e. market structures, industry practices, law and regulation, citizen activism, and audience dynamics) that shape the content of electronic media. We will consider a variety of historical, technological, economic, cultural, legal, political, and ethical factors that influence the production, distribution, and consumption of media texts in digital environments. We will take a case study approach, using examples of the U.S.

Media play a central role in politics, economics, culture, and our everyday lives. Our key concern is to understand both the direct and subtle operations of media power in society today: How do media construct meaning? How do new communication technologies shape our most intimate and personal relationships? How and why do data-driven corporations track and monetize their users often without their consent or political accountability?

In this class, we focus on acquiring a principled understanding of everyday, face-to-face interaction as the process by which we create, maintain, and manage social experience. Students acquire vocabulary and concepts to account for, analyze, and evaluate interpersonal communication in social and cultural context.

Directed study of some area of classical civilization.

Directed study of some area of classical civilization.

Directed study of some area of classical civilization.