ENG 4020 Fall 2023 Graban

This course invites students to read, analyze, write about, and reconstruct cross-cultural spectacles and human rights events. Organized around a series of case studies, the course asks students to take a critical rhetorical approach to exploring a variety of modes and forms—including hypertext essays, trauma narratives, testimonials, archives, memorials, a graphic novel, and film—gaining insight into how individuals, groups, and nations enact their human-rights interests from both local and global points of view. Case studies will be wide-ranging and may include past and present activism; vibrant cultural heritage projects, such as Kantha Threads (Bangladesh) and Art Against Apartheid (South Africa); and Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, to name only a few. Above all, the class will expose us to the notions of rhetorical empathy, deep listening, and critical compassion. Together, we will ask and answer the following questions: How can we interpret cross-cultural spectacles and human rights events when they occur in such a wide range of modalities (e.g., written, oral, visual, gestural, spatial, multimodal)? How can we be, do, or live differently after witnessing these spectacles—especially if they relate to cultures and crises that are not our own? How can we think critically about human rights discourse while we are also participating with this discourse in the real world? Finally, what kinds of rhetorical performances, practices, and frameworks become possible—both realistically and imaginatively—as a result of our study?