Rhetoric as Inquiry
(Natural Disaster Narratives)
Spring 2012
This course is designed around a theme of natural
disasters and their role in forming local identities. We will start the
course by looking at Jonis Agee’s novel The River Wife to discuss the
1811 New Madrid Earthquakes, using the lens of literature to give us a unique
view into how this particular disaster formed these particular characters and
created plot. From there, we will create an oral history project that
centers on our own historical narratives. We will read excerpts from
David Laskin’s The Children’s Blizzard and Ted Kooser’s poetry from Blizzard
Voices, as well as read excerpts from Timothy Egan’s National Book Award
winning book on the Dust Bowl. The goal of this project is to find our
own place in the stories of this place. The final writing project of the
semester will shift into current disasters of our own making, focusing on
conservation and prevention, taking our own views and looking outward beyond
the Great Plains. We will read Erik Reece’s The Lost Mountain,
about mountaintop removal, and we will consider the current Keystone XL threat
to the Ogallala Aquifer, as well as other disasters-in-progress (such as
fracking in the northeast, Mississippi Delta wetlands destruction, and
more). Our purpose in this class is to develop a greater understanding of
the natural world and its effects not only on us as human beings right now, but
actively inquire how the events of the natural world have affected not just
historical expressions, but we will also explore also and how those find their
expression and purpose in current times.
Rhetoric as Inquiry
(Place-Based)
Spring 2011, Fall 2011
This course is designed around a theme of
place-consciousness and location. We will focus our inquiry this
semester on the broader subject of “home and away,” a lens through which we
will develop a way of looking at what surrounds us, physically, intellectually,
and emotionally. We will focus, broadly, on curiosity and we will use
that curiosity to seek answers to the questions that arise. We will
explore the ideas of quest, how movement and stasis can lead us to a greater
understanding of where we are and who we are. We will use Paul Gruchow's
book Grass Roots: The Universe of Home to write a personal essay (in the manner
of Phillip Lopate's definition) that explores an aspect of a place we are
connected to. In the second project, we will use various authors to help
us understand the language of a place. The final project will explore
Mark Tredinnick's book The Blue Plateau as we write an essay that explores how
humans have shaped place and how place shapes humans. The goal of the
course is to become more aware of what surrounds us, so we can live more
deliberately wherever we are.
