Rhetorical analysis of autobiographical discourse in American cultures, with special attention to the ideology of individualism.

This Rhetoric elective course is intended to fulfill the American Cultures Breadth Requirement. Its purpose is to introduce students to American autobiography and American cultures by exploring how representations of personal experience by writers of diverse cultural groups respond to or are otherwise informed by the American rhetoric of individualism. No prerequisites or prior college experience with rhetoric is required for academic success in R129AC. We will begin with a general, conceptual discussion of "individualism" as an ideology and of "autobiography" as a mode of discourse that performs a specific cultural function for Americans, and then move on to explore the complex relationship between discourse and ideology in American cultures through rhetorical analysis of particular autobiographies. We will examine a series of primary works drawn from three American racial & ethnic cultures: African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans, to consider how these texts address the imperatives of ideology and cultural and social discourse.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills