Rhetorical Turns

If language is ever shifting, and if we have more recently seen a massive shift in communication practices both in terms of presentation tools and global connections, how should rhetoric shift in terms of its instruction?

Rhetoric, as a discipline, has seen massive turns in its approach (and therefore, its relevance) to educational practices.  To continue to be relevant, rhetorical educational and pedagogical practices will have to keep pace with the changes in communication practices and society at large.  Two areas where rhetoric will be particularly challenged to adapt are in the arenas of technology and multiculturalism.

Our past visions of the future thought that most of our technological advances would be in the area of transportation (Where are the hover cars?  We were promised hover cars!)  If you watch old Sci-Fi movies, few anticipated the level of instant communication capacity that our current society would enjoy.   These communication capabilities present challenges as we prepare students to communicate effectively.  Specifically, social media allows us to rhetorically construct and curate identities for both intended and unintended audiences, for both our personal selves and our professional selves. 

Moreover, in an educational setting, we are instructing students on technology platforms that will likely be outmoded by the time they graduate or shortly thereafter.  Rhetorically, this means that teaching students technological reasoning (and rhetorical) principles is far more relevant and efficacious than teaching to specific technologies.  

Multiculturalism in the context of globalization is another adaptation the discipline of rhetoric must make.  While we acknowledge that much of our knowledge of rhetoric is based in Western thought, we also admit the limitations of this approach.  As a class, we have discussed the perils of universal audience and cross-cultural enthymemes.  At some point, rhetorical theory will need to address ways in which we can effectively communication cross-culturally in a global environment.  (In fairness, being new to the discipline, it is very likely that there are many multicultural theories of which I am presently unaware.)  These theories will need to become embedded into traditional curricular designs and not added as an “aside” or afterthought to standard rhetoric curricula. 

Rhetorical scholars are certainly capable of meeting the challenges that time inevitably presents and it will be fascinating to observe the various forms that these new approaches take.