This chapter offers a brief overview and definitions of rhetorical theory. "Theory" is sometimes imagined as abstract thinking or complex philosophy. However, in this class "theory" is something that all people do when they seek to apply a way of thinking about the world to real-life

This chapter opens with the following questions: When was rhetoric invented, and by whom? What values do we endorse when we begin rhetoric’s history there? How do we decide when academic traditions ‘start’ or ‘begin’? The first section of the chapter addresses the conventionally-told early history of rhetoric in

This chapter addresses propagandistic persuasion and ideas related to civic virtue. The first section covers deception, a distant Greek relative to the concept of propaganda, as well as how Greek history has been used as a destructive form of propaganda in American history. The second section addresses how rhetoric was

This chapter covers the concept of the symbol. The first portion of this chapter defines the symbol and presents several philosophies of language developed in the 20th century by Kenneth Burke, George Herbert Mead, and Charles Sanders Peirce. Important concepts from these philosophies/philosophers include identification, the "I"

This chapter introduces the concepts of representation and the sign. These are counterparts to the theory of the symbol, and seek to account for the way that language acts both at a given historical moment and across different moments of time. The first (somewhat longer) section of this chapter addresses

This chapter is about ideology and myth. It will connect the theory of the sign to the concept of ideology. The first part of the chapter will cover the materialist theory of ideology, offering some background on some of its major features, including value and exploitation. Then it will discuss

This chapter is about rhetoric and argumentation and is divided into three sections. The first introduces key terminology related to "argumentation" including syllogism and enthymeme, Monroe's Motivated Sequence, presumption and burden of proof, and audiences of argument. The second section introduces the Toulmin Model, which may

This chapter discusses the relationship between rhetoric and narratives in three parts. The first introduces key concepts related to narratives, including the inside/outside of narratives, form, genre, and narrative frame theory. The second section of the chapter addresses Walt Fisher's narrative paradigm and the concepts of narrative

This chapter describes "visual rhetoric," and is divided into two sections. The first section is about "visual culture" and adapts seven premises developed by Dr. Catherine Palczewski, John Fritch, and Richard Ice in their textbook, Rhetoric and Civic Life [http://www.stratapub.com/PIF2/PIF2.htm]

This chapter is about the rhetorical situation. The rhetorical situation is a framework for rhetorical analysis designed for individual speeches and assessing their reception by an audience. This chapter is adapted from the textbook by Dr. Catherine Palczewski, John Fritch, and Richard Ice, Rhetoric and Civic Life [http://www.stratapub.

This chapter is about "the settler [colonial] situation." The first section of the chapter introduces some of the defining concepts related to settler colonialism, describes the role of rhetoric, and offers several examples of how this "situation" continues to arise within popular narratives today. The second

This chapter is about the Secrecy Situation. The first section defines this "situation," covers key terms related to secrecy rhetoric (e.g. arcanum, secretum, surveillance, and sousveillance), and considers how these concepts are relevant to the documentary “The Great Hack.” The second section offers a short history of

This chapter completes the unit on rhetoric's "situations" by discussing the digital situation of rhetorical communication. It is divided into three sections: The first discusses what the Digital Situation is. The second defines two keywords, "algorithm" and "big data." The final section,