Dr. Andrew Wood Office: HGH 210; phone: (408) 924-5378 Email: wooda@email.sjsu.edu Web: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda

There are as many definitions of rhetoric as there are rhetorical scholars. Aristotle claims that rhetoric is the study of all available means of persuasion. Cicero taught that rhetoric integrates our social life, that the study of rhetoric cannot be separated from the study of all liberal arts. In this century, I.A. Richards taught that rhetoric is the study of misunderstandings and their remedies, while Kenneth Burke focused his definition of rhetoric on the process through which people seek identification with others. For the moment, we may choose to define rhetoric in a much more basic manner. Rhetoric can be described as the manipulation of signs. The emphasis in this definition is human intent and a broad range of communicative phenomena: texts, words, physical structures - anything that stands for something else. So far, this discussion is somewhat dry, though.

Perhaps to shed more useful light on the study of rhetoric, let us select a specific context in which we may focus our attention. I propose that you consider the rhetoric of your hometown. It is a physical place - but it is also a set of interlocking signs: practices, laws, architecture, speeches, and the like. How might you define the rhetoric of your hometown? What constitutes a "good" hometown? Initially, I'd like you to consider that question. Only, I ask that you avoid evaluative words like "good" and "comfortable" or "stifling." Focus, first, on actual signs that form a system of meaning. My hometown, for example, emerges from signs such as the proliferation of shopping malls and the loss of "ma and pop" stores. My hometown also derives meaning from the fact that its "main street" was purchased by a religious group. Finally, my hometown may be rhetorically known as a site where there are few public events where most people assemble.

The rhetoric of my hometown emerges in two directions: its production and my evaluation. The signs of my hometown didn't emerge by accident. They were produced in a certain constellation by various social, economic, and political forces. To examine this rhetoric, I must be able to explain those forces to some extent. However, my choice of signs indicates a certain evaluation. To explain the rhetoric of my hometown, I choose to organize these signs - to include some and exclude others. Doing so, I'm telling a story that implies a certain worldview and a certain value system.

Activity:

In small groups, discuss your hometowns. Rhetorically, what stories do they tell? How do you choose to tell those stories? Following this discussion, work together to construct a vision of the ideal hometown. What are its values? How are those values inscribed in the public sphere? Don't expect to approach this activity from the same perspective. Be prepared to compromise a bit to contribute to the whole. Once you define this ideal hometown - develop some way to introduce us to it, to make your town inviting. You might construct a skit, write a song, draw a map, or illustrate a picture. The bottom line is not merely to provide an analysis of the town; your goal is to make us wish to visit.