ENC 4218 Fleckenstein Fall 2021

English 4218 introduces students to the principles of visual rhetoric, especially as it is enacted across diverse media, shaped by multiple genres, and designed to achieve different goals with different audiences. Students will learn to analyze the rhetorical function of imagery, use images to respond to and organize arguments, and consider the impact of visual rhetoric on personal, civic, and professonal lives.

We begin with a brief orientation to Western rhetoric, uncovering the ways in which it has always been a visual as well as a verbal performance (Note: This will involve work in some digial archives). Thus, we establish the historical trajectory of visual rhetoric in the West. We then turn to the image itself, the heart of visual rhetoric, investigating its contested nature; its contribution to (and constitution through) cognition, affect, and culture; and its variability (forms and media). Throughout, we experiment with the image, testing various claims (memory, vividness, emotion, and efficacy) by collecting data, collating it, reporting it, and discussing it. Next, we unite image and rhetoric, exploring theories of visual rhetoric and assessing those theories for their strenghts and limitations within the context of a specific social movement. Finally, you will conclude the course by producing, analyzing, and assessing an original visual argument.

Course grades will be based on the following: 1) three “mini-projects”: one identifying and describing a historical instance of visual rhetoric; one reporting on the results of our various “expermiments” with the image and addressing the implications of those results for your understanding of the image; and one assessing the use(s) of visual rhetoric in a social movement of your choice; 2) regular and sustained contributions to discussion board prompts and class discussion; 3) a final project involving the creation of an original visual argument (including proposal memo and final critical reflection).