COM 698: Seminar in Communication Theory

Spring 2007

Dr. Brant Short

School of Communication

Office # 349 (Building 16)

928-523-4701 (office)

928-779-6465 (home)

brant.short@nau.edu

Course Format

COM 698 will meet on SIX SATURDAYS during the semester from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the School of Communication (room TBA).

The meeting dates are: February 10, February 24, March 3, March 31, April 14, and May 5.

Students should bring lunch since we will not take a formal lunch break. We will discuss selected readings from 10 to 12, view a video from 12 to 1, and then continue with discussion from 1 to 3.

In order to fulfill the required class time for a three-credit course, students will be asked to participate in FIVE WebCT discussions on selected topics throughout the semester.

Course Description

COM 698 is a required class in the Applied Communication MA program (and it can be repeated with a different instructor). It is a special topics course with each instructor focusing upon a central theme in the field of Communication Studies.

For Spring 2007, our theme is Environmental Discourse. We will study multiple perspectives in Communication that address questions related to how people understand the natural world through symbolic behavior. Students in Communication as well as other graduate degree programs at NAU are welcome to enroll in COM 698.

There are four central goals/learning outcomes guiding this course.

            •          First, students will review and critique scholarship that embraces multiple contexts of communication, ranging from group, organizational, public and mediated forms.

            •          Second, students will identify and assess major issues and significant advocates in the culture, history, and politics of environmental discourse.

            •          Third, students will prepare written assessments of two significant books related to the course theme.

            •          Fourth, students will complete a major research paper that examines an important topic relevant to the course theme and that is appropriate for presentation at a professional meeting and/or submission to a professional journal.

Required Books

Please obtain the two books required for class from any source you find appropriate (local bookstores, Amazon, Powells, Barnes and Noble, etc.). The books have not been ordered through the NAU Bookstore.

            •          Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (any edition)

            •          Mark Neumann, On the Rim: Looking for the Grand Canyon (University of Minnesota Press, 1999). This book is available as a paperback and a number of copies are listed for sale on Amazon.

Readings for discussions and class meetings will be available in the COM 698 WebCT course shell as PDF documents.

Assignments

            •          Critical Book Review of Silent Spring           100 points

            •          Critical Book review of On the Rim              100 points

            •          Article Critiques (20 @ 15 points each)         300 points

            •          WebCT Discussions (5 @ 40 points each)     200 points

            •          Semester Research Project                             300 points

            •          Total:                                                              1000 points

            •          

Course Schedule

MODULE ONE: FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSE

            Discussion One (WebCT): Social Construction of Nature

                        ♦          Posting Due January 29

                        ♦          Responses Due February 5

            Class One: Meets on February 10

MODULE TWO: ADVOCACY AND ADVOCATES

            Discussion Two (WebCT): Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton

                        ♦          Posting Due February 16

                        ♦          Responses Due February 20

            Class Two: Meets on February 24

MODULE THREE: CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISCOURSE

            Discussion Three: Disney’s View of Environment

                        ♦          Posting Due: March 6

                        ♦          Responses Due: March 12

            Class Three: Meets on March 3

            Critical book review of Over the Rim due on March 10

MODULE FOUR: SYMBOLIC MEANING OF PLACE AND SPACE

            Discussion Four: Buffalo Commons

                        ♦          Posting Due: March 17

                        ♦          Responses Due: March 26

            Class Four: Meets on March 31

MODULE FIVE: SCIENCE AND RHETORIC

            Discussion Five: Science and Rhetorical Process

                        ♦          Posting Due: April 6

                        ♦          Responses Due: April 11

            Class Five: Meets on April 14

            Critical Book Review of Silent Spring due

TERM PAPER PRESENTATIONS

            Panel presentations: May 5

Readings and Assignments

Learning Module One: Foundations of American Environmental Discourse

Discussion One

Read the following essays:

♦          Donal Carbaugh, “Naturalizing Communication and Culture.” In The Symbolic Earth: Discourse and Our Creation of the Environment, eds. James G. Cantrill and Christine Oravec, pp. 38-57. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1996.

♦          Amanda Graham, “A Social Communication Perspective Toward Public Participation: The Case of the Cispus Adaptive Management Area.” In Communication and Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making, eds. Stephen D. Depoe, John W. Delicath and Marie-France Aepli Elsenbeer, pp. 35-58. Albany: SUNY Press, 2004.

Post a 600 to 800 word reaction to the readings based on the following questions.

♦          What are the central dimensions of a “communication” orientation in studying how humans assign meaning to the natural world?

♦          Does this orientation differ from your own views of approaching environmental issues? Please elaborate.

Post your reaction by January 29 (posting is worth 25 points).

Respond to at least three others postings (200 words or more) by February 5 (each response is worth 5 points).

Readings for Class (February 10)

Read the following essays and prepare one-page critiques for FIVE of the SIX readings:

■          Kevin Deluca, "Trains in the Wilderness: The Corporate Roots of Environmentalism"
Rhetoric & Public Affairs 4(Winter 2001) pp. 633-652

■          Leroy Doresy, “The Frontier Myth in Presidential Rhetoric: Theodore Roosevelt's Campaign for Conservation.” Western Journal of Communication, 59(Winter 1995) 1-19.

■          Valerie M. Fogelman, “American Attitudes Toward Wolves: A History of Misperception.” Environmental Ethics, 10 (Spring 1989) 63-94.

■          John Opie and Norbert Elliot, “Tracking the Elusive Jeremiad: The Rhetorical Character of American Environmental Discourse.” In The Symbolic Earth: Discourse and Our Creation of the Environment, eds. James G. Cantrill and Christine Oravec, pp. 9–37. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1996.

■          Christine Oravec, “Creationism vs. Preservationsim: The ‘Public Interest’ in the Hetch Hetchy Controversy.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 70 (1984) 444-458.

■          Bruce Weaver, “‘What to Do with the Mountain People?’: The Darker Side of the Successful Campaign to Establish the Great Smokey Mountain Park.” In The Symbolic Earth: Discourse and Our Creation of the Environment, eds. James G. Cantrill and Christine Oravec, pp. 151-175. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1996.

Learning Module Two: Advocates and Advocacy

Discussion

Read the following essays:

♦          J. Robert Cox, “The (Re)Making of the ‘Environmental President’: Clinton/Gore and the Rhetoric of U.S. Environmental Policies, 1992-1996" (pp. 157-180) and C. Brant Short, “Conservation Reconsidered: Environmental Politics, Rhetoric, and the Reagan Revolution” (pp. 134-154). In Green Talk in the White House: The Rhetorical Presidency Encounters Ecology. Ed. Tarla Rai Peterson, College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2004.

Post a reaction to the above readings (600 to 800 words). In your reaction, compare and contrast the rhetorical practices of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in regard to environmental issues. What might a future president learn about environmental rhetoric from these case studies?

Post your reaction by February 16 (posting is worth 25 points).

Respond to at least three others postings (200 words or more) by February 20 (each response is worth 5 points).

Readings for Class (February 24)

Read the following essays and prepare one-page critiques for FIVE of the SIX readings:

■          Tracylee Clarke, “Constructing Conflict: The Functioning of Synecdoche in the Endangered Wolf Controversy.” Wicazo Sa Review, 14 (Spring 1999) 113-127.

■          Robert Martin, “‘Putting People Back into the Environmental Equation. . . . ‘: The Development of a Grass Roots Narrative in the Controversy Over Old Growth Forests in the Pacific Northwest.” Journal of the Northwest Communication Association, 26 (1998) 1-21.

■          Jennifer A. Peeples, “Aggressive Mimicry: The Rhetoric of Wise Use and the Environmental Movement.” In The Environmental Communication Yearbook, volume 2. Ed. Susan L. Senecah, 1–18. London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005.

■          Don Scheese, “‘Something More Than Wood’: Aldo Leopold and the Language of Landscape.” North Dakota Quarterly 58 (1990) 72-89.

■          Steve Schwarze, “Public Participation and (Failed) Legitimation: The Case of Forest Service Rhetorics in the Boundary Waters’ Canoe Area.” In Communication and Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making, eds. Stephen D. Depoe, John W. Delicath and Marie-France Aepli Elsenbeer, pp. 113-136. Albany: SUNY Press, 2004.

■          Brant Short, “Giving Voice to the Wild: A Rhetorical Critique of Sigurd Olson’s The Singing Wilderness.” Paper presentation, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, June 2001, Flagstaff, Arizona.

Learning Module Three: Culture and Environmental Discourse (March 3)

Discussion

Read the following essays.

♦          Richard Francaviglia, “Walt Disney’s Frontierland as an Allegorical Map of the American West.” Western Historical Quarterly 30 (1999) 155-182.

♦          Richard Slatta, “Taking Our Myths Seriously.” Journal of the West 40 (2001) 3-5.

♦          Michael Steiner, “Frontierland as Tomorrowland: Walt Disney and the Architectural Packaging of the Mythic West.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 48 (1998) 2-17.

Based on the above readings, post a response (600 to 800 words) that addresses the following questions.

♦          What cultural messages about place emerge from the presentation of the American West in Disneyland’s Frontierland?

♦          How might historians who address the meaning of Frontierland strengthen their analyses by using theories of rhetoric and communication?

Post your reaction by March 6 (posting is worth 25 points).

Respond to at least three others postings (200 words or more) by March12 (each response is worth 5 points).

Critical Book Review

Be prepared to discuss Mark Neumann’s On the Rim during class on March 3; the review will be due on March 10. See Assignment area for guidelines.

Readings for Class (March 10)

Read the following essays and prepare one-page critiques for THREE of the FIVE readings:

■           Julia Corbett, “A Faint Green Sell: Advertising and the Natural World.” In Enviropop: Studies in Environmental Rhetoric and Popular Culture. Eds. Mark Meister and Phyllis M. Japp. Wesport, CT: Praeger, 2002.

■          David P. Pierson, “‘Hey, They’re Just Like Us!’: Representations of the Animal World in the Discovery Channel’s Nature Programming.” The Journal of Popular Culture 38 (2005) 698-698-712.

■          Diana L. Rehling, “When Hallmark Calls Upon Nature: Images of Nature in Greeting Cards.” In Enviropop: Studies in Environmental Rhetoric and Popular Culture. Eds. Mark Meister and Phyllis M. Japp. Wesport, CT: Praeger, 2002.

■          B. Short and D. Hardy-Short, “Beware of the Storybook Wolves: Rhetorical Construction of the Wolf in Children’s Literature.” In Proceedings of the Seventh Biennial Conference on Communication and Environment. Eds. Gregg Walker and William Kinsella, Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University, 2005. 288-296.

■          Anne Marie Todd, “Prime-Time Subversion: The Environmental Rhetoric of The Simpsons.”In Enviropop: Studies in Environmental Rhetoric and Popular Culture. Eds. Mark Meister and Phyllis M. Japp. Wesport, CT: Praeger, 2002.

Learning Module Four: Rhetoric of Place and Space

Discussion

Read the following essays:

♦          Autumn Rees, “The Buffalo Commons: Great Plains Residents’ Responses to a Radical Vision.” Great Plains Quarterly 25 (2005) 161-172.

♦          Mary L. Umberger, “Casting the Buffalo Commons: A Rhetorical Analysis of Print Media Coverage of the Buffalo Commons Proposal for the Great Plains.” Great Plains Quarterly 22 (2002) 99-114.

Based on the above readings, post a reaction addressing the following questions.

♦          How is place socially constructed by people living in the upper Great Plains (based on the readings)?

♦          What are some of the lessons from the Buffalo Commons controversy for those of us who live in the American Southwest?

Post your reaction (600 to 800 words) by March 17 (posting is worth 25 points).

Respond to at least three others postings (200 words or more) by March 26 (each response is worth 5 points).

Readings for Class (March 31)

Read the following essays and prepare one-page critiques for FIVE of the SEVEN readings:

■          Alison Calder, “Why Shoot the Gopher? Reading the Politics of a Prairie Icon. The American Review of Canadian Studies (Autumn 2003) 391-414.

■          Donal Carbaugh and Lisa Rudnick, “Which Place, What Story? Cultural Discourses at the Brink of the Blackfoot Reservation and Glacier National Park.” Great Plains Quarterly (Summer 2006) 167-184.

■          Richard Rogers and Julie Schutten, "The Gender of Water and the Pleasure of Alienation: A Critical Analysis of Visiting Hoover Dam.” The Communication Review 7 (August 2004) 259-283.

■          Steve Schwarze, “Juxtaposition in Environmental Health Rhetoric: Exposing Asbestos Contamination.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 6 (2003) 313-335.

■          Susan Senecah, “Forever Wild or Forever in Battle: Metaphors of Empowerment in the Continuing Controversy over the Adirondacks.” In Earthtalk: Communication Empowerment for Environmental Action, pp. 95-118. Eds. Star A. Muir and Thomas L. Veenendall. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.

■          Brant Short, “Saving the Wild and the Free: The ‘Monkey Wrench’ Rhetoric of Edward Abbey.” In In Search of Justice: The Indiana Tradition in Speech Communication. Eds. Richard J. Jensen and John C. Hammerback. Amsterdam: RODOPI N.V., 1987. 285-301.

 ■          Bryan K. Walton and Conner Bailey, “Framing Wilderness: Populism and Cultural Heritage as Organizing Principles.” Society and Natural Resources 18 (2005) 119-134.

Learning Module Five: Science, Technology and Rhetorical Theory

Discussion

Read the following essays:

♦          Michael S. Carolan, “The Values and Vulnerabilities of Metaphors Within the Environmental Sciences.” Society and Natural Resources 19 (2006) 921-930.

♦          Yvonne M. Rauch, “The Rhetoric of the Probable in Scientific Commentaries: The Debate Over the Species Status of the Red Wolf.” Technical Communication Quarterly 6 (1997) 91-104.

♦          David J. Tietge, “The Role of Burke’s Four Master Tropes in Scientific Expression.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 28 (1998) 317-324.

Based on the readings, post a reaction (800 to 1000 words) by considering the following questions.

♦          In what ways is science essentially a rhetorical process?

♦          How might a rhetorical view of science change the way scientists approach their work?

♦          Why might scientists be skeptical of considering a rhetorical aspect of their work?

Post your reaction by April 6 (posting is worth 30 points).

Respond to at least two others postings (200 words or more) by April 11 (each response is worth 5 points).

Critical Book Review (April 14)

Be prepared to discuss your book review of Silent Spring, see Assignment area for guidelines.

Readings for Class (April 14)

Read the following essays and prepare one-page critiques for TWO of the FIVE readings:

■          Margaret Graham Baker and Neil Lindeman, “The Rhetoric and Politics of Science in the Case of the Missouri River System.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 19 (2005) 422-448.

■          William Kinsella, “One Hundred Years of Nuclear Discourse: Four Master Themes and Their Implications for Environmental Communication.” In The Environmental Communication Yearbook, volume 2. Ed. Susan L. Senecah, 49-72. London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004.

■          Robert Patterson and Ronald Lee, “The Environmental Rhetoric of ‘Balance’: A Case Study of Regulatory Discourse and the Colonization of the Public.” 6 (Winter 1997) Technical Communication Quarterly.

■          Brant Short and Dayle Hardy-Short, “‘Physicians of the Forest’: A Rhetorical Critique of the Bush Healthy Forest Initiative.” Electronic Green Journal 19 (December 2003).

■          Gregg B. Walker and Steven E. Daniels, “Dialogue and Deliberation in Environmental Conflict: Enacting Civic Science.” In The Environmental Communication Yearbook, volume 2. Ed. Susan L. Senecah, 135-152. London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004.