Supplement

This course's depiction of rhetoric is necessarily limited and subjective; it is entangled with paradigmatic assumptions about Western Civilization as the product of a male-dominated Whig history moving from the Mediterranean through Europe to North America. Students will complicate this narrative and expand the course's purview by contributing their own supplements.

To complete this assignment, each student will sign up for a presentation slot during the semester. (No more than two students may be scheduled for any class meeting.) A student's presentation should discuss one of the following:

• the life and thought of a rhetor not covered by our assigned class readings (students may choose someone in The Rhetorical Tradition but are not required to do so)
• the contributions of a people or culture to the field of rhetoric (such as women rhetors, rhetors living under colonialism, or rhetors of Asia or South America)
• the development of a coherent theme in rhetoric (such as the canon of invention, oral vs. written communication, or the role of technology)
• a theoretical approach to rhetoric (such as new materialism or dramatism)

To prepare for their presentations, students will upload one-page handouts (both sides) for the class. Students then will lead the class in a discussion over their topic. Discussions commonly last between 15 and 30 minutes, but there is no specific time target; rather, conversations should be full, productive, and engaging.

* Students will not submit a Response on the week that they complete their Supplement.