civic engagement final paper rhetorical citizenship

7/30/2019 Civic Engagement Final Paper Rhetorical Citizenship

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Wolonowski: Rhetorical Citizen Assignment

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Maryann Wolonowski

ENC 3331: Rhetoric and Civic Engagement

MWF 9:30-10:15

November 6, 2012

Word Count: 2,229

Rhetorical Citizenship Assignment

To My Fellow Knights:

Its the end of fall semester which means youre coming down the home stretch. Its time to crack

out those books and get to studying. Your teachers have just dropped a bomb on you: finals,

papers, and projects. These are the things you must accomplish before running out the door to

that long awaited winter break. Make the most of it, because when you get out in the real world,

there is no such thing as, breaks.

Ive spent the past 3 months taking Civic Engagement with Professor Wolcott. Ive been given

an assignment to write upon the topic of rhetorical citizenship. I know what youre probably

thinking. What the hell is that? Well, I hope by the end of this paper, you will not only

understand it, but love it! Unlike many, Im pretty excited for this final paper. Im proud to

announce that this is my last piece of writing for my Writing and Rhetoric Minorhold the

applause till the end. I still have to actually write it.

This writing journey has been an exciting ride. I hope you take from this paper more than just


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words, but passion. Thats what this minor has become to mea passion. What began as Im

just going to wing it and pick something kind of decision, ended up being one of the best

decisions Ive ever made. Just because this is my final piece for my minor doesnt mean it ends

here. Ill take this knowledge and bring it with me as I leap into the real world. Writing never

stops, and neither will I. Well, here it goes. This ones for all the marbles

Hundreds of pages read and plenty of papers written, the question remains unanswered, What is

rhetorical citizenship? The problem is there is no way of figuring out this complex word unless

I break it down into smaller parts. The best way of doing this is to first define rhetorical. Once I

lay down the basics then Ill move onto defining citizenship. Right now it seems confusing, but

by the end, not only will you understand both words as separates, but youll be able to unite the

two and understand them as a whole. When you become a rhetorical master and grasp the

meaning, Ill discuss my own personal experience with rhetorical citizenship so you can relate

what youve learned in an everyday situation.

Rhetorical stems from the term rhetoric. You may also hear the words, rhetor or rhetoricianjust

to make the confusion larger than it already is. Depending on your figure of speech will depend

on how the word is used in a sentence. The beauty of this is that its not a difficult word at all

complex, but not difficult. As a matter of fact, its something we use every day but were just

unaware of it. When we think were speaking plainly, were in fact filling our every sentence

with rhetorical trickery (Leith 7).

Rhetoric is defined by many definitions. Ill begin by giving you the textbook form of the term:


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Rhetoric is the use ofsymbolic action by human beings to share ideas, enabling them to work

together to make decisions about matters of common concern and to construct social reality

(Palczski, Ice and Fritch 5). If youre like I was when I was introduced to this word, you may be

scratching your head, still unaware of its meaning. After two years of studying this minor known

as rhetoric, I came up with my own personal definition that explains its meaning in what I

believe is the clearest explanation possible. Ultimately, rhetoric is known as the study of

persuasion crafted in a timely manner in hopes of influencing an audience. So lets break that

down into three parts:

1.) The study of persuasion: Youre engaging in an act of convincing someone to believe

or do something.

2.) Crafted in a timely manner: This is describing when youre presenting your argument

referring to not only the time but the place and the tactics and style you use to do so. I

will speak more about time in the next paragraph.

3.)In hopes of influencing an audience: The effect or impact you have on your audience.

Understand it yet? If not, let me throw another word at you that explains the concept of time in a

deeper sense than how I have explained it. From my experience, this is the part of rhetoric that I

had the hardest time understanding when I began the journey in the search of the perfect

definition. The ancient Greeks gave special attention to timing--the "when" of the rhetorical

situation. They called this kairos, and it identifies the combination of the "right" moment to

speak and the "right" way (or proportion) to speak (Bitzer). So, what exactly does this mean?


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Did you ever hear of the saying, timing is everything? Well, kairos displays why that statement is

true. If you think about it, itsquite easy to understand. If youre trying to persuade someone,

you want to wait for that perfect time to begin the discussion. Once you begin, everything you do

or say throughout your explanation will make a differencethe tone of your voice, your body

language, word placement. You must make sure you strategically place what I like to call,

grabberswords, ideas, motions, or thoughtsinto your puzzle in way that everything forms

together. If done right, the last part of this complex definitioninfluencing your audience

should come naturally.

Now that we have a handle of what it means to be rhetorical, Ill move onto the second part of

our question: What is citizenship? We have heard this term used a lot in our American History

classes, specifically when discussing the 14th

Amendment of the United States. Id like to steer

away from the political definition because with rhetorical citizenship, there are no boundaries. It

doesnt matter if youre Florida or in Sydney, Australia, you always have the ability to possess

some form of the term no matter where you are in the world.

My personal definition of citizenship is: An individual viewed as a member of a particular

society and the way in which you communicate/or engage for the betterment of that society. To

become a citizen is easy. Being heard and getting noticed is what you have to work for. In an

article written by Amy Wan, she speaks about the connection between citizenship and education.

She begins with a quote by Kathleen Yancy, saying, This is a call to action, a call to research

and articulate new composition, a call to help our students compose often, compose well, and


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through these composings, become the citizen writers of our country, of our world, and the

writers of our future (Wan 28 ). Yancy believes that a change needs to be made for the

betterment of our future generation. The source of the problem is ironically in the same place as

the source to the answerschool.

From Yancys statement, Wan touches on citizenship in educational writing. She preaches that it

has the ability to be more productive than it currently is. We want to foster a more participatory

and democratic citizenship, a more literate citizenship, a more active citizenshipall familiar

refrains in the field and beyond (Wan 29). What Wan is zoning in on is that much of the work

we are given in school is useless. It gives us the grade but isnt benefiting us in any way. If your

work isnt shared, how are you properly engaging in your society? Wan presents the solution to

this issue saying, We should create a space where our own citizen-making through the teaching

of literacy is a more deliberate activity, one that enlivens the concept of citizenship by

connecting classroom practices to other instances of citizenship production (Wan 46). Imagine

if the school system took this advice. Every paper, every project, every assignmentit would all

have a purpose. Not only would we unite as a society, but the world would be a better place.

At this point, Ive explained the definition of rhetorical/rhetoric and citizenship. To review,

rhetoric is the study of persuasion crafted in a timely manner in hopes of influencing an

audience. Citizenship is an individual viewed as a member of a particular society and the way in

which you communicate/or engage for the betterment of that society. To become a citizen is

easy. Being heard and getting noticed is what you have to work for.


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As I stated in the beginning, my main goal is for you to able to unite the two and understand

rhetorical citizenship as a whole. Lets put an end to this madness and finally answer that

burning question, What is rhetorical citizenship? My personal definition is: The ability of an

individual to communicate their knowledge, thoughts, ideas, or emotions about a topic/or issue

within their society to an audience in a way that convinces them to help make a difference/or

change. I can guarantee you have engaged in rhetorical citizenship once in your life. You just

were unaware that you were doing it!

I decided to focus on a time when I engaged in rhetorical citizenship that you can relate to as

well. Seeing as we both go to University of Central Florida, I can only assume youre no stranger

to hurricanes. In June, my work collogues and I hosted the 2012 Hurricane Expo for the citizens

of the Treasure Coast. Many local businesses attended, all of whom you may contact in the case

of a hurricaneRed Cross, Shutter Systems, Channel 5 News, and FEMA, just to name a few.

We each had personal tasks with one main goal: to communicate our knowledge, thoughts, ideas,

and emotions about hurricane safety with our society in a way that convinces them to help make

a difference/or change.

My part in this fight to save lives was to talk to the citizens of the Treasure Coast and inform

them about the storm stories of their fellow members of society, good and bad. This helped to do

many things. It united the victims together to engage in discussions, informed citizens on what

to do and where to go in the case on an emergency, and persuaded them to get involved in further

hurricane events in hopes to not only gain more knowledge, but to also help make a difference in

their community. The actions of one person can trickle down to so many others. This experience


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made me realize how easy it is to become a rhetorical citizen. It just takes one person to stand up

and let their voice be heard.

Wan was right when she said, Our teaching practices tend to shape certain civic behaviors, such

as participation in civic life (Wan 35). If we are taught the importance rhetorical citizenship at

an early age in school, we will be more prone to engage in rhetoric throughout our life. The

Hurricane Expo was just one event that inspired thousands to become engaged. Many of them

didnt even realized what they were doing or more importantly, the impact they were making.

The vendors were persuading the community who came out to be a part of the event, the

community was taking in the information and informing their peers around them, and those

people were going out into their society and informing others about what they had learned. It

became a recycling effect that added more and more people on as the engagement grew. Just to

think that an afternoon event that lasted all of just a few hours would soon make a change that

would last a lifetime.

To wind down this discussion, Id like to recap what I have discussed with you. Rhetoric is the

study of persuasion crafted in a timely manner in hopes of influencing an audience. Citizenship

is an individual viewed as a member of a particular society and the way in which you

communicate/or engage for the betterment of that society. If you combine the two words, you get

rhetorical citizenship: The ability of an individual to communicate their knowledge, thoughts,

ideas, or emotions about a topic/or issue within their society to an audience in a way that

convinces them to help make a difference/or change. In my example, I was able to communicate

my knowledge, thoughts, ideas, and emotions about the hurricane safety to my community in a


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way that convinced them to help me in making a difference and a change. Im only one person.

This doesnt even include the hundreds of people who worked, attended, and were affected by

the expo.

Being a rhetorical citizen is one of the most powerful things that I believe you can be. Your

voice and actions can do so much. You have the ability to be heard by many so why not be

heard? It takes a little time and effort but the when you realize you were the start of something

that effected the lives of many, itll all be worth it. I hope Ive convinced you how amazing it is

to be a rhetorical citizen that you not only understand it, but love it. As the great Mahatma

Gandhi said, Be the change that you wish to see in the world (Otis). Good luck on your

endeavors.

Regards,

Maryann Wolonowski


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Works Cited

Bitzer, Lloyd F. 1968. "The Rhetorical Situation." Rhetoric: Concepts, Definitions, Boundaries.

William A. Covino ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon: 1995.

Chandler, Otis. Good Reads. 2012. 3 November 2012

.

Leith, Sam. Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric From Aristotle To Obama. New Yrok: Basic

Books, 2012.

Palczewski, Catherine H, Richard Ice and John Fritch. Rhetoric In Civic Life. State College:

Strata Publishing, Inc, 2012.

Wan, Amy J. In the Name of Citizenship: The Writing Classroom and the Promise of

Citizenship. 28-46. New York: National Council of Teachers of English, 2011.

civic engagement final paper rhetorical citizenship

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