Rhetoric by and for Women
Kristine Hansen, Rhetoric

Many young students know only a pejorative definition of rhetoric, i.e., empty or “frilly” language or, worse, intentionally misleading language. In this one-week course, we will begin by defining rhetoric in the positive sense of language used to persuade others to think differently and join in acting to change the world.

We will learn about how rhetoric was taught and used in earlier centuries. Then we will examine the rhetoric of five women who made significant contributions to the emancipation of women in western civilization: the English-speaking world’s first feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft; the suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Emmeline Pankhurst; and the writer Virginia Woolf. We will analyze how their rhetoric reflects their personal circumstances and the times in which they lived, the problems they confronted, and the ways in which they wanted to see the world changed.

We will also evaluate their rhetorical efforts in terms of the changes in society they sought to bring about and how those changes have affected both women and men. Men and women are both welcome and encouraged to take this course.