Speech Communication 438: Public Intellectuals, Social Justice, and The Rhetorics of Engaged Citizenship

Graduate Seminar with Stephen Hartnett, Spring 2002

           Do intellectuals matter?  What do universities accomplish? Can academics contribute to pressing debates about social justice?

In order to explore these questions this graduate seminar examines how public intellectuals from many disciplines have addressed the rhetorics of social justice across a broad sweep of topics. Communication Studies scholars have addressed these questions under the rubric of “applied communication”; Cultural Studies and Educational Studies scholars have relied on Freire’s notion of a “pedagogy of the oppressed”; and English, Philosophy, and some interdisciplinary scholars have used the notion of “cultural pedagogy”—all to roughly the same ends: to ask how intellectuals and teachers may move beyond the classroom to play roles as engaged citizens.  The course is thus part intellectual history class, part seminar in rhetorical criticism, and part workshop for exploring how academics may contribute to discussions regarding social justice both in the academy and in larger public forums.  Students will write traditional academic response papers and seminar papers while also exploring alternative modes of intellectual engagement, including contributing to radio, television, print, and other grass roots forms of communication.

In order to enact the politics of engagement, each seminar participant will contribute to the syllabus. Based on my ten years of experience teaching in, writing about, and protesting at prisons, I will lead discussion on Harold Pepinsky’s 1991 call for Criminology as Peacemaking, Sister Helen Prejean’s 1993 sermon on reconciliation, Dead Man Walking, and the most recent issues of the prison magazine, Broken Chains.  I will also prepare a course packet of background readings. The rest of the seminar’s materials will be chosen by students, who are encouraged to discuss their suggestions with me at the earliest possible date.  To arrange a time to discuss your suggestions, please email me at hartnett@uiuc.edu.