In his article on Pragmatism and Comparative Rhetoric Methodology, Dr. Scott Stroud makes the argument that Comparative Rhetoric should make it their goal to approach the inter-cultural study of communication and rhetorical traditions with the goal of discovering what is valuable and useful in those traditions for others, with the goal of fixing problems or changing ourselves or our societies.

In this long-term semester project, you will use your study of different rhetorical traditions to identify an important concepts from one of our course units (e.g. Chinese rhetorical traditions, African, etc.). Once you have done so, you will relate that concept to another sphere of contemporary communication, whether that be formal (e.g. a sub-field of  communication studies, like marketing, public relations, media, etc.) or informal (e.g. communication in online spaces like reddit, interpersonal relationships, etc.).

Since it is still early in the semester, you won’t have a strong sense yet of what concept you would like to draw on from which culture. But, you can start thinking about the sphere of contemporary communication you want to connect your concept with. For this assignment, you will do the following:

1. Explain your understanding of Stroud’s discussion of the goals of pragmatism and comparative rhetoric. Quote from the article as needed. You should write about 250-350 words here.
2. Write a brief reflection about your thoughts and attitudes toward Stroud’s position. Do you agree or disagree with what Stroud is advocating for? Why? You should write about 200 words.
3. Finally, what area of communication are you most interested in connecting your reading/study with? Explain in as much detail as you are able. Think about an area where you feel there is an issue that needs resolved, or something that can be improved or changed. Explain your connection to and investment in that area of communication. You should write about 250-350 words for this section. Don’t worry, you aren’t committed to this if you change your mind later.