ENG 5846-Fall 2025-Browdy

This course is designed to familiarize graduate students with concepts and theories at the intersections of race and/or ethnicity, class, gender, ability, and sexual orientation. Students will survey texts that recognize and interrogate difference as a critical point for understanding and engaging rhetoric and composition studies. Potential sites of inquiry for this course include feminist rhetorics and theories, global African and African Diasporic traditions and theories, critical race theory, and decolonial theories and methodologies. A major objective of this course is to interrogate “difference” as it functions rhetorically within various historical, social, and political contexts. Prompting questions include: What do we mean by difference (versus similarities/commonalities)? How does difference function within a given situation? How is it utilized/employed? What values, beliefs, assumptions, etc. are associated with difference? How is difference impacted by positionality and power? What implications does difference have on how we understand, teach, learn, and study rhetoric and composition? Students will be encouraged to engage historical and contemporary texts on theories of difference as well as invited to locate and contribute relevant material to the course inspired by their own personal, research, and teaching interests.