Rhetoric of Social Justice

This course consider what we mean by justice and what our obligations are to one another in public life. Organized around issues of social protest and social movements, Rhetoric of Social Justice explores the ways in which issues of dissent and social change are pursued through a variety of means. The rhetorical approach to the class offers a vocabulary for considering how people pursuing change go about convincing one another to engaged, to fight, and even to die for causes. Students complete a series of text briefs, summarizing and applying the reading to concepts discussed in class, as well as group case study podcasts where they talk through the nuances of a historic case study and a contemporary case study of social justice.