Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Conference Presentations
    • Critical Theory/MRG 2023 Presentation
    • PCA/ACA Conference Presentation 2022
    • PCAS/ACAS Presentation 2021
    • SEACS 2021 Presentation
    • SEACS 2022 Presentation
    • SEACS 2023 Presentation
    • South Atlantic MLA Conference 2022
  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-014: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • February 13th: Introduction to User Design
    • February 15th: Instructions for Users
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
    • February 1st: Reflection on Workplace Messages
    • February 20th: The Rhetoric of Technology
    • February 22nd: Social Constructions of Technology
    • February 6th: Plain Language
    • January 11th: More Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Audience & Purpose
    • January 23rd: Résumés and Cover Letters
      • Duty Format for Résumés
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • January 25th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • January 30th: Achieving a Readable Style
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • January 9th: Introduction to the Class
    • Major Assignments
    • March 13th: Introduction to Information Design
    • March 15th: More on Information Design
    • March 20th: Reporting Technical Information
    • March 27th: The Great I, Robot Analysis
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • August 24th: Introduction to the Class
    • August 31st: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2022)
      • Rhetoric of Fear
    • November 16th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Finding Dominant Rhetorical Appeals
    • November 2nd: Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • November 30th: Words and Word Classes
    • November 9th: Cohesive Rhythm
    • October 12th: Choosing Adjectivals
    • October 19th: Choosing Nominals
    • October 26th: Stylistic Variations
    • October 5th: Midterm Exam
    • September 14th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 21st: Coordination and Subordination
    • September 28th: Form and Function
    • September 7th: Sentence Patterns
  • ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology
    • April 13th: Authorities in Science and Technology
    • April 15th: Articles on Violence in Video Games
    • April 20th: Presentations
    • April 6th: Technology in the home
    • April 8th: Writing Discussion
    • Assignments for ENGL 4275
    • February 10th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 12th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 17th: Technology and Gender
    • February 19th: Technology and Expediency
    • February 24th: Semester Review
    • February 3rd: Religion of Technology Part 1 of 3
    • February 5th: Religion of Technology Part 2 of 3
    • January 13th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 15th: Technology and Democracy
    • January 22nd: The Politics of Technology
    • January 27th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • January 29th: Technology and Postmodernism
    • January 8th: Introduction to the Course
    • March 11th: Writing and Other Fun
    • March 16th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 2
    • March 18th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 2
    • March 23rd: Inception (2010)
    • March 25th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • March 30th & April 1st: Count Zero
    • March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 12th: Knoblauch. Ch. 4 and Ch. 5
    • April 19th: Jacques Derrida’s Positions
    • April 26th:  Feminisms and Rhetorics
    • April 5th: Knoblauch. Ch. 3 and More Constitutive Rhetoric
    • February 15th: Isocrates (Part 2)
    • February 1st: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 & 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 22nd: St. Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
    • February 8th: Isocrates (Part 1)-2nd Half of Class
    • January 11th: Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 25th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Book 1
    • March 15th: Descartes, Rene, Discourse on Method
    • March 1st: Knoblauch. Ch. 1 and 2
    • March 22nd: Mary Wollstonecraft
    • March 29th: Second Wave Feminist Rhetoric
    • May 3rd: Knoblauch. Ch. 6, 7, and “Afterword”
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • ENGL/COMM/WRDS: The Rhetoric of Fear
    • February 14th: Fascism and Other Valentine’s Day Atrocities
    • February 21st: Fascism Part 2
    • February 7th: Fallacies Part 3 and American Politics Part 2
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Class
    • January 17th: Scapegoats & Conspiracies
    • January 24th: The Rhetoric of Fear and Fallacies Part 1
    • January 31st: Fallacies Part 2 and American Politics Part 1
    • Major Assignments
    • March 7th: Fascism Part 3
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • LBST 2213-110: Science, Technology, and Society
    • August 22nd: Science and Technology from a Humanistic Perspective
    • August 24th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • August 29th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • August 31st: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • December 5th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • November 14th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 16th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 21st: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 28th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 30th: Violence in Video Games
    • November 7th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes Ch. 1-17
    • November 9th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes, Ch. 18-26
    • October 12th: Lies Economics Tells
    • October 17th: Brief Histories of Medicine, Salerno, and Galen
    • October 19th: Politicizing Science and Medicine
    • October 24th: COVID-19 Facial Covering Rhetoric
    • October 26th: Wells, H. G. Time Machine. Ch. 1-5
    • October 31st: Wells, H. G. The Time Machine Ch. 6-The End
    • October 3rd: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 12th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 19th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Prefaces and Ch. 1
    • September 26th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 2
    • September 28th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • September 7th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 5 and 6
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021)
    • April 13th: Virtually ‘Real’ Environments
    • April 20th: Rhetoric/Composition Defines New Media
    • April 27th: Sub/Cultural Politics, Hegemony, and Agency
    • April 6th: Capitalist Realism
    • February 16: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 23rd: Our Public Sphere and the Media
    • February 2nd: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • January 26th: Introduction to New Media
    • Major Assignments for New Media (Spring 2021)
    • March 16th: Identity Politics
    • March 23rd: Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality
    • March 2nd: Foundational Thinkers in Cultural Studies
    • March 30th: Hyperreality
    • March 9th: Globalization & Postmodernism
    • May 4th: Wrapping Up The Semester
      • Jodi Dean “The The Illusion of Democracy” & “Communicative Capitalism”
      • Social Construction of Sexuality
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2020)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 11th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 15th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 16th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 17th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 18th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 1st: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 2nd: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 3rd: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 4th: “Burning Chrome”
    • June 8th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 9th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • May 18th: Introduction to Class
    • May 19th: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 20th: The Matrix
    • May 21st: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 25th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 26th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 27th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • A Practical Editing Situation
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Fordism/Taylorism
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • How to Lie with Statistics
    • Isaac Asimov’s “A Cult of Ignorance”
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Marxist Theory (cultural analysis)
    • Oral Presentations
    • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire
  • Video Games & American Culture
    • April 14th: Phallocentrism
    • April 21st: Video Games and Neoliberalism
    • April 7th: Video Games and Conquest
    • Assignments for Video Games & American Culture
    • February 10th: Aesthetics and Culture
    • February 17th: Narrative and Catharsis
    • February 24th: Serious Games
    • February 3rd: More History of Video Games
    • January 13th: Introduction to the course
    • January 20th: Introduction to Video Game Studies
    • January 27th: Games & Culture
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
    • March 24th: Realism, Interpretation(s), and Meaning Making
    • March 31st: Feminist Perspectives and Politics
    • March 3rd: Risky Business?

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 255F
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021) » April 27th: Sub/Cultural Politics, Hegemony, and Agency

April 27th: Sub/Cultural Politics, Hegemony, and Agency

Plan for Class

As I mentioned in the email I sent you, we’re going to have discussion the way a graduate seminar is supposed to have discussions–ALL of you will contribute to the class discussion in two ways:

  1. Referencing and commenting on the reading
  2. Discussing the topic you’ll cover for the final project

I’ll risk privileging a type of project by showing a past multimodal project (or two), but only if the class fulfills the graduate seminar goal of full participation. At a minimum, you’ll need to mention your topic, so I can direct you to one of the groups of readings listed for next week. If your topic is better served by a reading outside those groups, I’m more than happy to point you to alternative readings.

Your final project is to present an argument about media in 8 minutes. You must speak for at least 2 of those minutes, but the final project “artifact” is up to you. Before we get there, though, you need to consider your interests and theoretical penchant(s) for this final project. With what/which lens/es do you wish to analyze a media topic? We’ve discussed gender, economics, language, polysemy (Derrida), technology, and, of course, rhetoric. You have plenty of approaches possible with which to analyze and present your arguments.

Special Note on Participation

Many of you have participated very well this semester. Some of you have barely said anything during our class meetings. Please review the syllabus and updated Participation grade on the Assignments Page. The grade is 25% of your entire grade. If you’ve never participated, skipped classes, or spoken very little, you’re at risk of having a maximum final grade of 75%, a ‘C,’ which is practically a failing grade in Graduate School.

While I’m being more lenient this semester (pandemic), that doesn’t mean you’re not expected to contribute to class discussions, and you can’t expect a good grade if you’ve participated very little. Also, as stated on the Assignments Page, “If you’re not in class, you can’t receive credit for [participation].” Missing a class or two won’t affect you unless you don’t participate when you’re attending.

You may use the chat for yourselves, but I will not even look at it. Therefore, if your discussion happens in the chat and isn’t spoken in class, it DOESN’T count as participation.

Ch. 13 “Youth Culture and Resistance”

I think Barker & Jane should have gone with the title “Resistance is Youthful,” but I guess they cover more than that. There’s long been the image of the angsty teen, and some of you might have been an angsty teen. The chapter focuses (not surprisingly) on the economics of youth, and I hope we think about the technologies of youth fi such things even exist. It might be difficult to argue that “youth” is a technology, but there is definitely a science of childhood, adolescence, old age, and emerging adulthood.

Because some of you might be in the “emerging adulthood” category, let’s focus on that at some point tonight. What are the cultural assumptions we can make about Americans between the ages 18-29 (Yes, this question needs to be critiqued, but that’s a given)? Talk of average life spans during this pandemic got me thinking about the need for scientific classifications of age and aging. After all, if the average lifespan were less than 40, would the field of gerontology ever be pursued?

You’ll notice there aren’t any quotes below. You’re going to reference parts of the chapter to engage in a discussion. If you haven’t read, it’ll be obvious. One thing that’s on your side is that all of you have been youths (some more recently than others), so you’ve experienced “youth culture,” which isn’t monolithic or universal. I expect lots of discussion on this.

A Note on Gender Analysis

Based on some of your interests related to gender and sexuality studies, I’d like to direct us to a discussion on children’s media as a site of gendered reproduction.

What are some “prevailing” characteristics of Americans in the following age groups?

  • Ages 10-20 (Consider whether or not this is a problematic age range in terms of marking)
  • Ages 21-30
  • Ages 31-40
  • Ages 41-50
  • Ages 51-60

What can age suggest? Even if there are no immutable truths associated with age, we have general assumptions about people based on age. Of course, age is relative and is one factor concerning identity.

Late-70s Youths

Consider the way youth culture is framed in these different representations. Sometimes empirical evidence is useful* to cultural studies. While no number can represent the totality of anything to do with the social, statistics can help identify a disconnect (or compatibility) with media representations of reality. Consider the following (not very clear) graph on violent crime:

*That’s just to see if the social scientists are awake.

Violent crime rate by age: 1970-1998. From “Patterns and Trends in Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice.”
  • Here’s a graph from “Recent Violent Crime Trends in the United States” by the Congressional Research Service (2018)–you want page 2 (6th of the PDF).

Now, let’s watch two media representations of youths. Notice when they were released and the corresponding crime statistics above.

  • Trailer for Over the Edge (1979)
  • Dazed & Confused (1993), which is set in May 1976
    • Emporium scene from Dazed & Confused (1993)
    • Bowling ball scene…vandals

Consider the tone of these two portrayals of youth (male youths mainly) culture. Also, what might these video game statistics complicate about Barker & Jane’s discussion of youth culture?

Italian American Identity

Ch. 13 discusses the issue that subcultures aren’t authentic because there’s no authentic capital-C Culture from which to respond. Let’s consider representations of Italian or, more “accurately,” Italian-American identity.

Ch. 14 “Cultural Politics and Cultural Policy”

The last chapter! You’d think it would be more of a review, but it’s pretty densely packed with information and ends on hope…this edition was published in 2016, so it probably went to press in late 2015 and had no clue what the world would look like today. But I digress. This chapter discusses policing, gamergate, and technologies among many other topics. While there’s lots you can say about those topics, let’s remember to reference the reading. Some of you have lots to say about tangential topics to the reading and then little or nothing directly about the reading. That is a clear signal that you aren’t reading.

Those of you from Spring 2020’s Rhetorical Theory class might remember Cy Knoblauch’s use of Richard Rorty in his discussion of “Expressivist Rhetoric.” Interestingly, we were having fun with Derrida a year ago–April 27th.

We need to figure out what are the machinery of government and cultural technologies. What do bureaucracies do?

What do medicine, education, and the media have in common?

Again, as with Ch. 13, you’ll notice there aren’t any quotations. Let’s discuss this chapter.

Final Projects

Depending on the level of participation, I’ll show you examples of past multimodal projects that might inspire your final project. Remember, your technical abilities aren’t important to your grade. How well you make and defend your argument is vital. If you haven’t mentioned your topic (in class or via email), now is the time, so I can point you towards sources that may be helpful for your final project and presentation.

Next Week

Finishing a book is always a cathartic experience, and finishing a huge book is much more so. The readings for next week depend on your interests. Because not all of you will have read every one of the readings, we’ll have to be good about moving the discussion from topic to topic. I expect you’ll be talking about the readings in relation to your final project. If we were face to face, this class would be more of a workshop, so I expect lots of “crosstalk” in the class. Test your arguments and perspectives on your fellow classmates.

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