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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