Sustainability

Over the past four decades, scholars of rhetoric have begun to engage more-than-human others (animals, plants, things, and environments) as objects of rhetoric and as rhetorical actors in their own right. Grounded in the scholarship of environmental rhetoricians and rhetorical theorists, this seminar addresses entanglements of rhetoric and more-than-human others. In Part I, participants will study how and why human beings engage in symbolic action on behalf of other animals, plants, habitats, and earth systems. In Part II, participants will consider efforts to expand what counts as rhetorical to encompass the myriad sonic, visual, tactile, and olfactory signals emitted by more-than-human others. Finally, in Part III, participants will develop and present original, publishable scholarship that addresses one or more of the theoretical, critical, or practical concerns raised throughout the semester.