ENG 6939 - Fall 2025 - McMartin

This course examines the theories and methodologies of public rhetorics and community writing. The class focuses on how writing functions as a tool for engagement, advocacy, and social change. Community writing refers to rhetorical practices that emerge from collaborations between university scholars and community partners, addressing locally identified issues through reciprocal and justice-oriented relationships. Public rhetorics considers how writing circulates in public spaces, influences civic discourse, and mobilizes action in response to contemporary social and political challenges.

We will explore current trends in community-engaged research and pedagogy, drawing from the CCCC Statement on Community-Engaged Scholarship and Pedagogy in Rhetoric and Composition, alongside key texts that helped establish the field. Readings will include scholarship on community-engaged research methods, community literacy, and writing in public spheres. In addition to studying contemporary research, students will examine foundational works that shaped the field, tracing the intellectual and activist traditions that inform community writing and public rhetorics.

This course is designed to support students in developing research and teaching approaches that position writing as a means of coalition-building, institutional transformation, and public engagement. Whether your focus is community literacy, digital media, activist writing, or writing-program administration, you will gain insight into how public rhetorics and community writing shape the field of rhetoric and composition and inform the practice of engaged scholarship.