ENC 5735 Spring 2023 Neal

This course begins with the assumption that visual language is one of many available modes of discourse that neither displaces nor functions in isolation from other modes. By studying visual rhetoric in various contexts, we will explore how rhetorical frameworks used to theorize writing are applicable to some discussions and insufficient for others when studying the visual. Visual messages are present in print as well as in digital form, in film and television as well as on pages and signs, and in layout and design as well as in illustrations and photographs. Visual rhetoric is equally relevant in the Rembrandt exhibit at the MET as it is on the t-shirts of the patrons who visit each day.

This course will be divided into four modules beginning with several large questions that attempt to define and classify visual rhetoric (e.g., What is Visual Rhetoric? How do we make meaning from visuals? How do we account for visual technologies? How trustworthy are images? What kinds of arguments can visuals make?) The second module will look at social implications of visual culture; the third module will ask students to consider pedagogies of visual rhetoric; and the fourth module will explore researching the visual. Each module will include readings and an assignment that applies principles from that section. The final project will be the revisions and/or expansion of one of these modular assignments.