The Course
This course is in the tradition of public orality. The character of
our culture is shaped by leaders, and particularly by dramatic moments
of leadership. These are times when we quite simply expect leaders to
speak to us. Writing will not do. When they do, we respond to them by
transforming our society. We are moved by the artistic qualities and
the compelling arguments presented to us. The ability of our leaders
to respond to their situations with compelling speeches is one of the
marks of their leadership. This course will study such leadership and
such moments.
We also want to study such leadership in a particular way. A speaking
moment is a combination of many factors. An important one is the biography
of the speaker. Each of us has our viewpoints and our abilities developed
in a long process, the results of which we bring to the speaking moment.
But, to understand the ways in which speeches in such moments alter
the trajectory of history, we must understand the history to which the
speaker responds. So, we must place the speeches in history, both the
long term sweep of history and the immediate situation to which the
speech responds. Finally, we are interested in tracking what happens
because of the speech.
Obviously we are selective. We will study only seven speeches this
semester (I had planned to study eight, but that just made too tight
a schedule). We will study them in depth.
Which brings us to our second major objective in the course: to help
you understand how it is that scholars who seek to understand leadership
study the power of speaking. You will be doing the scholar's work. This
will be a research course. These speeches will come to you not by hearing
about them from me, but by learning about them through your research.
I will be your partner in this research along the way, but you will
be learning the process of research as well as learning about speaking.
So, enjoy the semester. Let me know if there are ways that I can help
you.
Learning Objectives
Who is the course for?
It seems to me that you need to love two things to make this course
enjoyable for you. First, you need to love history or the place of speaking
in history. You will be doing a lot of historical digging. If you don't
find it really interesting, perhaps compelling, to find out how people
of other times and places lived, then you will probably find the course
more work than enjoyment.
Second, you need to love the process of learning by digging up answers
to questions. If you primarily believe in a "pitcher" analogy
for education – the instructor opens your brain each day and pours
in the stuff – then you are not going to enjoy this course, because
here you will learn by doing research yourself. The curiosity and the
satisfaction of learning that it stimulates has to be important to you.
One other characteristic I should mention. You will be doing lots of
work with research groups during the semester. So, you need to be comfortable
working with others in a group and contributing through group work.
If your schedule does not permit group meetings outside the designated
class time or you just don't believe in shared work, the course probably
is not going to work for you.
So, who is the course for? People with a curiosity about leadership,
speaking, and history who think it would be kind of kool to dig around
in historical documents and to work with other students to learn about
leaders rising to their moment.
What knowledge should you have before you
come into this course?
I suppose some knowledge of American history will aid you. You may
have acquired that knowledge in a history course or through some other
method including your own reading. This is not a course in history,
however, but in the power of orality at moments in history. Your research
will be marginally easier to get underway with some historical knowledge,
but ultimately that will not be a great barrier.
Some understanding of how leaders use language to accomplish objectives
will also give you a step up. You certainly will have acquired plenty
of understanding of this process if you have had any one of a number
of communication courses including 401, 453, 460, or 461. But here again,
this is primarily an advantage early in the semester. Later in the semester,
you will have acquired this through the course itself.
What will the course be like?
You can think of the course as divided into two parts. In the first
four or five days we will learn how to approach research and discussion
of the speeches through which leaders influence our society. Then we
will repeat a set process for studying seven such speeches, basically
in three day cycles.
You will spend a lot of time working in groups and with me to develop
material to present to the class. I will give you some class time for
this, but you will probably also need some time outside the classroom
each week. You will have four presentations, generally spread evenly
across the semester (approximately every three weeks) that will be developed
by the groups. There will be eight groups and four will work on each
speech.
We will use class time in a number of ways. Early in the semester,
in those first four or five days, I will primarily be in charge. I will
give you some pointers on doing your work.
Then we will move into studying the speeches. Each study will begin
with a day for meeting with your research groups. You should use this
class time to refine your research strategies on your specific assignment,
and to finalize your plans for your presentation to the class. I will
circulate among the groups, helping in any way I can to plan your research
strategy and answering questions you may have about your presentation.
On the next day, we will have reports from each of the groups on their
findings. Each group will have fifteen minutes to report to us. You
will decide how best to do that, splitting up the task or having a single
spokesperson for the group. These will help the half of the class not
researching this particular speech on things they need to know to work
with the speech the next class.
And then things will climax with a discussion which I will lead on
each speech. We will draw upon your research to draw conclusions about
the speeches that we study.
Learning Resources
COMM 498E