Examines the role of communication in legal and judicial contexts. Focus on case studies that illustrate the theoretical and practical significance of rhetoric in the work of the courts, lawyers, and public advocacy groups.

Introduction to theories, concepts, and analysis in critical rhetorical and communication research. Emphasis on rhetoric, public advocacy and discourse, performance, critical theory.

Survey of issues, theories, and methods of pedagogy in speech communication, rhetoric, and performance studies.

Advanced study of theories and practices of public and cultural argumentation. Emphasis on critical argumentation theories and analysis of public arguments.

Examination of the role of language, rhetoric, and argumentation in the historical and contemporary project of critical social theory.

Advanced study of theories of rhetorical criticism and the conceptual assumptions that motivate, compose, and justify critical interpretations of rhetorical acts, performances, and events.

Examination of the rhetorical operations that define, sustain, and reshape historical and contemporary forms of civil society, including modes of public address, community engagement, non-profit advocacy, and political communication.

Advanced study of the rhetoric of political social movements.

Advanced study of institutional discourse and the role of institutional argumentation in the formation and critique of power. Includes directed inquiry into the rhetorical dynamics of consensus-formation, dissent, and recognition as they unfold between institutions, publics, and cultures.

Theories and research exploring the mutual contributions of performance and cultural studies. Emphasis on performance as both a subject of critical/cultural inquiry as well as a method of critical/cultural invention.

Study of critical performance methods and the conceptual and paradigmatic assumptions that motivate, compose, and justify performance as a critical act, criticism as a performative act, and performance events as critical objects.

Exploration of performance as a site of and means for representing and creating social change.

Examination of the ethical and political commitments in the rhetorical tradition. Emphasis on the intersection of rhetorical scholarship with issues in communication ethics and their implications for political rhetoric.

Study of the rhetorical analysis of scientific and technological public discourse, implications of public science and technological changes for the theory and practice of rhetoric, and the rhetorical construction of sciences and technologies.

Advanced study of the rhetorical violence that attends the human condition and its attempted redress through discourses of human rights. Special attention devoted to theories of violence and critical interpretation of legal discourse, human rights doctrine, and humanitarian advocacy.

Selected topics in speech communication. rhetoric, and performance studies. May be repeated as content varies by title.

Survey of ancient Greek and Roman rhetorical theory.

Survey of important figures, debates, and perspectives in rhetorical theory from the Medieval period to the 19th century.

Survey of major figures, debates, and theories in the field of rhetoric from the 19th century to present.

Individually arranged studies in specialized areas of speech communication, rhetoric, or performance.

Individually research projects focused on a selected area of speech communication, rhetoric, or performance.

To be arranged by candidates for the Master of Arts degree with the instructor under whose direction the master's thesis is being written.