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Could be, but it seems to me that, unlike other disciplines, the study (theorizing) of rhetoric began in only one place in the ancient world--ancient Greece, especially Athens, which was atypically democratic, that we ought to consider its relationship to two crucial factors in Athens: (1) an advocacy-based legal system--remember ancient Athenians were were more litigious than modern-day USAmericans--and (2) political democracy to the extent that the ability to sway a sizable crowd of voters translated into power. What I see is a tendency for rhetorical study to be narrowed to stylistics (language as distinguished from thought) in less democratic contexts, i.e., to matters of "clarity" and decoration. In the 19th century, if I remember correctly, some literacy scholars argue, the differences between Canada and the USA in literacy education parallel differences in levels of democracy and industrialization, including the greater advantage to be gained in the US by presenting written arguments effectively. Where rhetoric is studied--remember Burke argues in 1950 that is is studied mostly in the various social sciences--is a somewhat different question, I think. In Canada, I teach the rhetoric of the political brief (in the same slot where I might have taught classical or Rogerian persuasion) because that genre seems to be a more important aspect of the political process here than in the USA. Rick At 04:21 PM 3/2/99 -0700, you wrote: >Could it be that primary rhetoric--the doing of rhetoric--flourishes in >a democratic culture, but secondary rhetoric--the study of it--is >something else again, more subject to the various winds of disciplinary >paradigms? Certainly rhetoric is studied extensively in Canada, but not >often _as_ rhetoric in a collected sense. Political scientists study >deliberative rhetoric, law profs study forensic, etc. As for the how-to >side of rhetoric, it is scattered among English departments >(composition, often remedial and despised), public relations,journalism, >etc. > >So my quick take would be that the lack of a discipline of rhetoric does >not necessarily mark Canada as anti-democratic or even anti-rhetorical. > > >[log in to unmask] wrote: >> >> Hi Cathy, >> >> You asked whether Textual Studies in Canada got covered in U.S. indexes. >> In fact, we've been accepted by both the MLA and CCCC. However, for the >> MLA we had to wait a few years, ostensibly to ensure that we were >> "keepers"? >> >> However, the fact remains that the Canadian situation in rhetoric/tech >> writing is difficult. >> >> This leads me to an issue that I may have raised on this list recently, >> but I'm not sure. In any case, I'd like some feedback in preparation for >> the Atlanta roundtable. (For those of you that will be there, forgive me >> for telegraphing my punch!) >> >> In the history of rhetoric, it's a truism that rhetoric flourishes in a >> free society but languishes in an autocratic culture. If this is true, >> why has rhetoric had such a tough slog in Canada in the 20th C.? Does >> the anti-rhetorical bent in post-secondary education in Canada reflect >> something about a latent (to some not too hidden) resistance to free >> thought and expression in Canada? >> >> Is the resistance to rhetoric in 20th-C. Canada rooted in an >> English-Canadian colonial mind? Given the English lit. curriculum through >> most of the century, this is probably not a trick question. >> >> Any thoughts on this? Any personal experience? Russ's comments on the >> difference between a writer and a Writer sheds some light here. Since a >> Writer is born, not made, need we bother with the writer? Whence would >> such an attitude arise? >> >> Cheers, >> >> Henry >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Henry A. Hubert, Ph.D. >> Office of the Dean of Arts >> >> University College of the Cariboo | Phone: 250-828-5236 >> P.O. Box 3010 | FAX: 250-371-5510 >> Kamloops, B. C. | E-mail: [log in to unmask] >> V2C 5N3 >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >-- >Doug Brent >Co-ordinator, Undergraduate Program in Communications Studies >Associate Dean, Academic Programs and Faculty Affairs >Faculty of General Studies, University of Calgary >(403) 220-5458 >Fax: (403) 282-6716 >http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dabrent >