Reflecting on "Authorship and Influence" and Building Your Own Chronology

Dear All,

In reflecting on last class I realize you covered quite a lot of ground in terms of finding new ways of inquiring into the "Authorship and Influence" conversation.

For example, by examining the central role of the "Okyeame/communication person" in Molefi Asante's Afrocentric communication theory, you have enabled us to ask a different set of questions about Plato's "speech-writer" and Aristotle's "rhetor":

• What integrative processes could these characters have facilitated (if any) in Plato's and Aristotle's theories?  
• What were their most critical debates about the nature of society?
• What are the possibilities for meta-commentary in The Phaedrus or On Rhetoric (i.e., is it possible that Plato's "speech-writer" and Aristotle's "rhetor" might play the role of meta-commentator in their respective texts)? 
• What are the ways in which we might read The Phaedrus or Rhetoric as nationalistic projects?

Recap of "Looking Historically at Rhetorical Theory" and Preparation for "Authorship and Influence"

Dear All,

As promised, I am pasting here a snapshot of yesterday's board, reflecting our quick but engaged discussion of how Vatz and Biesecker proposed that we might complicate Bitzer's theory of "rhetorical situation." From my vantage point, the most interesting realizations occurred in your own notes and/or in our small and large-group discussions; however, this image may help you to remember our framework.

[photo credit A. May -- click to enlarge]