INSTRUCTOR: Norma Cox Cook, T-101 McClung Tower, 974-7067
OFFICE HOURS: 9:00-10:00 MWF and by appointment (You are welcome without appointments at all other times that I am in my office.)
TEXTS:
Ryan, Barbara. Feminism and the Women's Movement: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology and Activism. New York: Routledge, 1992.
Schneir, Miriam, ed. Feminism
in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present.
New York: Vintage, 1994.
MATERIALS ON RESERVE:
Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs. "The Rhetoric of Women's Liberation: An Oxymoron." Quarterly Journal of Speech 59 (1973): 74-86.
Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs, ed. Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. [Reference HQ1412.W68 1994]
Duffy, Susan. "Shirley Chisholm." American Orators of the Twentieth Century. Ed. Bernard K. Duffy and Halford R. Ryan. New York: Greenwood, 1987. 63-68.
Foss, Karen A. "Betty Friedan." American Orators of the Twentieth Century. Ed. Bernard K. Duffy and Halford R. Ryan. New York: Greenwood, 1987. 153-58.
Foss, Sonja K. "Equal Rights Amendment Controversy: Two Worlds in Conflict." Quarterly Journal of Speech 65 (1979): 275-88.
Hancock, Brenda Robinson. "Affirmation by Negation in the Women's Liberation Movement." Quarterly Journal of Speech 58 (1972): 264-71.
Railsback, Celeste Condit. "The Contemporary American Abortion Controversy: Stages in the Argument." Quarterly Journal of Speech 70 (1984): 410-24.
Smeal, Eleanor C. "We've Just Begun." Representative American Speeches 1985-1986. Ed. Owen Peterson. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1986. 50-57.
Solomon, Martha. "On a Tupperware Pedestal: The ERA and the Southern Experience." A New Diversity in Contemporary Southern Rhetoric. Ed. Calvin M. Logue and Howard Dorgan. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1987. 230-59.
---. "The Rhetoric of STOP ERA: Fatalistic Reaffirmation."Southern Speech Communication Journal 44 (1978): 42-59.
---. "`The Total Woman:' The Rhetoric of Completion."Central States Speech Journal 32 (1981): 74-84.
Vanderford, Marsha L. "Vilification and Social Movements: A Case Study of Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Rhetoric." Quarterly Journal of Speech 75 (1989): 166-82.
Ware, Susan. Modern American Women: A Documentary History. Chicago: Dorsey, 1989. 341-49, 440-65.
NON-PRINT ASSIGNMENTS:
The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter. D810 W7L5 1987.
Choices: The Abortion Debate
in the 90's. HQ767.5.U5C46. (A debate at UTK between Phyllis Schlafly
and Sarah Weddington)
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to provide both a critical and historical study of the rhetoric in the campaign for women's rights in the United States from the 1940s to the present.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Class attendance and participation
2. Assigned readings in the text and materials on Reserve in the library; two non-print assignments; one class report on a selected supplemental reading
3. Project and a short essay on the current status of the contemporary movement
4. Two in-class essay examinations
5. A research paper that focuses on a rhetorical analysis of any aspect of the movement
[6. If you are taking the course for graduate credit, additional readings from the literature on rhetoric of movements will be required. These readings are to be reported in the form of an annotated bibliography. In addition, the research paper should be longer but should not exceed 20 pages.]
GRADING
Final Grade
Extra Credit
Extra credit may be earned by viewing the recommended video and by attending an approved program on campus related to the course content as announced during the term. A one-page report of what you learned from the program should be submitted within one week following the event. Credit may be applied either to the term project or to remove the penalty for a class absence.
Written Assignments
One goal of this course is the further development of writing skills. Thus, careful attention should be given to language usage and to writing mechanics. In addition, papers should be proofread carefully in order to avoid misspellings and inaccuracies due to typing errors. Writing errors will result in a lower grade on the assignment.
Penalties
1. All assignments must be submitted to receive a grade in the course. One letter grade will be deducted if an assignment is submitted after the deadline, and no late work will be accepted for grading this term after 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 1.
2. The class participation grade will be lowered if there are more than three class absences as follows: 4 B, 5 C, 6 D, 7 F.If you miss the roll call, it is your responsibility to have your attendance recorded at the end of that class period. In case of inclement weather, the University policy as stated on page 13 of the Timetable will be followed. There will be no attendance penalty if absences are due to weather conditions.
3. Plagiarism will result in failure in the course. Plagiarism is defined in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th ed., as follows: "To use another person's ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarize" (30).
HONOR STATEMENT
Course conduct will be governed by the University's Honor Statement: "An essential feature of The University of Tennessee, Knoxville is a commitment to maintaining an atmosphere of intellectual integrity and academic honesty. As a student of the University, I pledge that I will neither knowingly give nor receive any inappropriate assistance in academic work, thus affirming my own personal commitment to honor and integrity."
CLASS PARTICIPATION
Students are expected to be present for every class period unless illness or serious emergencies make attendance impossible. Participation includes being present for the entire class period, being prepared for the day's assignment, being good listeners, contributing to discussions, and serving as a resource person for the class on one of the supplemental readings.
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS: FOR CLASS REPORTS
Anderson, Judith. "Sexual Politics: Chauvinism and Backlash?"Today's Speech 21.4 (1973): 11-16.
Avalos, Elizabeth Riley. "Betty Friedan's Meaning of Power: A Cluster Analysis." Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration & Practice. Sonja K. Foss. Prospect Heights: Waveland, 1989. 388-403.
Barker-Plummer, Bernadette. "News as a Political Resource: Media Strategies and Political Identity in the U.S. Women's Movement, 1966-1975." Critical Studies in Mass Communication 12 (1995): 306-24.
Bineham, Jeffery L. "Theological Hegemony and Oppositional Interpretive Codes: The Case of Evangelical Christian Feminism."Western Journal of Communication 57 (1993): 515- 29.
Branham, Robert James. "The Role of the Convert in Eclipse of Reason and The Silent Scream." Quarterly Journal of Speech 77 (1991): 407-26.
Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs. "Femininity and Feminism: To Be Or Not To Be a Woman." Communication Quarterly 31 (1983): 101-08.
Christiansen, Adrienne E., and Jennifer McGee. "Beverly Davenport LaHaye." Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 146-60.
Condray, Suzanne E. "NOW's Media Strategies and the Feminization of Power." Women and Communicative Power: Theory, Research, and Practice. Ed. Carol Ann Valentine and Nancy Hoar. Annandale, Virginia: Speech Communication Association, 1988. 86-97.
Danner, Lauren, and Susan Walsh. "`Radical' Feminists and `Bickering' Women: Backlash in U.S. Media Coverage of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women." Critical Studies in Mass Communication 16 (1999): 63-84.
Daughton, Suzanne M. "Women's Issues, Women's Place: Gender- related Problems in Presidential Campaigns." Communication Quarterly 42 (1994): 106-19.
Foss, Karen A. "Robin Evonne Morgan." Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 306- 18.
Foss, Sonja K. "The Feminists: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Radical Feminist Movement." University of Michigan Papers in Women's Studies 2.2: 79-95.
---. "Pauli Murray." Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 319-30.
---. "Women Priests in the Episcopal Church: A Cluster Analysis of Establishment Rhetoric." Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration & Practice. Sonja K. Foss. Prospect Heights: Waveland, 1989. 371-87.
Gillespie, Patti P. "Feminist Theatre: A Rhetorical Phenomenon."Quarterly Journal of Speech 64 (1978): 284-94.
Haaland, Bonnie A. "The Decontextualization of Abortion: An Analysis of `The Silent Scream.'" Women's Studies in Communication 12.2 (1989): 59-76.
Hayden, Sara. "Re-claiming Bodies of Knowledge: An Exploration of the Relationship between Feminist Theorizing and Feminine Style in the Rhetoric of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective."Western Journal of Communication 61 (1997): 127-63.
Hope, Diane S. "Alyce Faye Wattleton." Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 436- 51.
Hope, Diane Schaich. "Redefinition of Self: A Comparison of the Rhetoric of the Women's Liberation and Black Liberation Movements." Today's Speech 23.1 (1975): 17-25.
Jablonski, Carol J. "Rhetoric, Paradox, and the Movement for Women's Ordination in the Roman Catholic Church." Quarterly Journal of Speech 74 (1988): 164-83.
Jenefsky, Cindy. "Andrea Dworkin." Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 175- 89.
Jensen, Richard J., and John C. Hammerback. "Feminists of Faith: Sonia Johnson and the Mormons for ERA." Central States Speech Journal 36 (1985): 123-37.
Jerry, E. Claire, and Michael Spangle. "Patricia Scott Schroeder." Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 395-408.
Johnson, Fern L. "Mary Daly." Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 120-33.
King, Janis L. "Justificatory Rhetoric for a Female Political Candidate: A Case Study of Wilma Mankiller." Women's Studies in Communication 13.2 (1990): 21-38.
Kroll, Becky Swanson. "From Small Group to Public View: Mainstreaming the Women's Movement." Communication Quarterly 31 (1983): 139-47.
Linkugel, Wil A., and Dixie Lee Cody. "Nixon, McGovern and the Female Electorate." Today's Speech 21.4 (1973): 25-32.
Martin, Donald R., and Vicky Gordon Martin. "Barbara Jordan's Symbolic Use of Language in the Keynote Address to the National Women's Conference." Southern Speech Communication Journal 49 (1984): 319-30.
McDowell, Margaret B. "The New Rhetoric of Woman Power."The Midwest Quarterly 12 (1971): 187-98.
McPherson, Louise. "Communication Techniques of the Women's Liberation Front." Today's Speech 21.2 (1973): 33-38.
Pearce, Kimber Charles. "The Radical Feminist Manifesto as Generic Appropriation: Gender, Genre, and Second Wave Resistance."Southern Communication Journal 64 (1999): 307-15.
Perkins, Sally J. "The Myth of the Matriarchy: Annulling Patriarchy Through the Regeneration of Time." Communication Studies 42 (1991): 371-82. [For comments on the article-- Oravec, Christine. "The Ideological Significance of Discursive Form: A Response to Solomon and Perkins." Communication Studies 42 (1991): 383-91.]
---. "The Rhetoric of Androgyny as Revealed in The Feminine Mystique." Communication Studies 40 (1989): 69-80.
Pinola, Mary, and Nancy E. Briggs. "Martha Wright Griffiths: Champion of Women's Rights Legislation." Central States Speech Journal 30 (1979): 228-40.
Rosenwasser, Marie J. "Rhetoric and the Progress of the Women's Liberation Movement." Today's Speech 20.3 (1972): 45-56.
Sheckels, Theodore F. "The Rhetorical Use of Double-Voiced Discourse and Feminine Style: The U.S. Senate Debate over the Impact of Tailhook '91 on Admiral Frank B. Kelso II's Retirement Rank." Southern Communication Journal 63 (1997): 56-68.
Solomon, Martha. "The `Positive Woman's' Journey: A Mythic Analysis of the Rhetoric of STOP ERA." Quarterly Journal of Speech 65 (1979): 262-74.
---. "Stopping ERA: A Pyrrhic Victory." Communication Quarterly 31 (1983): 109-17.
Stewart, Charles J. "Championing the Rights of Others and Challenging Evil: The Ego Function in the Rhetoric of Other-Directed Social Movements." Southern Communication Journal 64 (1999): 91-105.
Sullivan, Patricia A. "Women's Discourse and Political Communication: A Case Study of Congressperson Patricia Schroeder."Western Journal of Communication 57 (1993): 530-45.
Tonn, Mari Boor. "Donning Sackcloth and Ashes: Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and Moral Agony in Abortion Rights Rhetoric." Communication Quarterly 44 (1996): 265-79.
Turner, Kathleen J. "Ego Defense and Media Access: Conflicting Rhetorical Needs of a Contemporary Social Movement." Central States Speech Journal 31 (1980): 106-16.
White, Cindy L., and Catherine A. Dobris. "A Chorus of Discordant Voices: Radical Feminist Confrontations with Patriarchal Religion." Southern Communication Journal 58 (1993): 239-46.
Zurakowski, Michele M. "Ti-Grace Atkinson." Women
Public Speakers in the United States, 1925-1993: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook.
Ed. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. 1-12.
The goal of this project is to follow and study the contemporary movement during the time period covered by this semester. Either of two options may be selected.
Option 1: Study messages of the movement and their opponents that reach the general public through the news.
The basic approach to this assignment will be to follow news coverage on a regular basis. Including major newspapers such as the New York Times in your reading should be particularly helpful. Watch, for example, for news reports on speeches, rallies, marches, picketing, meetings of movement organizations, court cases, and proposed legislation as well as editorials, opinion columns, and letters to the editor.
The project should be organized in a notebook as follows:
1. A collection of news reports should appear in chronological order with a full bibliographical citation for each. Original articles may be put directly into the notebook. Key sentences should be marked. If you are unable to include the original, pertinent quotations from articles may be written in the notebook, following the guidelines used for research notes. For reports from radio and television broadcasts, write accurate summaries in the notebook.
2. At the end of the entire collection, write an essay of approximately three to four typed or computer-printed pages based on an analysis of the materials from a rhetorical perspective. Focus on synthesizing the view of the current status of the movement as it was presented to the general public during this period. Examples of the types of factors you might look for are issues that received major attention, major rhetorical strategies used and any changes in tactics, periods of greatest visible activity and the reasons that might account for them, whether efforts at persuasion were directed toward achieving new goals or whether they were defending goals previously achieved but currently under attack, whether there appeared to be conflicts within the movement, which groups or persons most frequently appeared as public spokespersons for the movement and the rhetorical styles they used, and the nature of the countermovement.
Option 2: Study the messages of one movement organization communicated through their web site.
An excellent web site to use in locating organizations is http://www.Legacy98.org under "Today's Issues" which provides a list of "National Women's Rights Organizations and Internet Resources." Examples include the National Organization for Women at http://www.now.org and the Feminist Majority Foundation at http://www.feminist.org.
The project should be organized in a notebook as follows:
1. The collection of information should either be filed in chronological order or subdivided into sections suggested by the web site, such as issues, events, and press releases. When copies of information are included, highlight key sentences.
2. At the end of the entire collection, write an essay of approximately
three to four typed or computer-printed pages based on an analysis of the
rhetoric and leadership strategies. Focus on aspects such as the goals
of each organization for the time period, the issues being addressed and
possible explanations for that focus at this time, and the persuasive strategies
used to support their positions and mobilize supporters for action.
There is no restriction on the topic other than the general guideline that it must be a rhetorical analysis of some aspect of the contemporary feminist movement in the United States. The topic may focus on the rhetoric of the movement or that of the counter-movement or both. Examples of aspects that might be studied include an important issue, a significant speech, an influential book, a movement strategy (such as a major demonstration), or a leader of the movement or of the opposition. It is recommended that topics be selected no later than mid-term. Students are encouraged to select topics related to their own interests.
Papers should include approximately 8-9 doubled-spaced typed or computer-printed pages of text and a Works Cited. Parenthetical documentation of sources should be included in the text, following the style of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th edition. All quoted material should appear in quotation marks (or set off by indentation, if longer than four lines).
The paper should be logically and clearly organized with an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction should include a statement of the purpose of the paper and a brief preview of the main points to be developed in the body of the paper. Transitions should be used to make each main idea in the body of the paper easily identifiable, and each main point should be developed with specific supporting materials. A summary of the major points should appear in the conclusion.
SOME CAUTIONS: In writing the paper, be sure that the focus is a rhetorical one. Papers that are limited to a biography of a person or the history of some period will not meet this criterion. It also is essential that the paper be movement-oriented. A paper written on a topic related to women but without links to the movement will not be sufficient.