Is Composition and Rhetoric a real field?

[JohnR]

I keep seeing people in here asking about Composition and Rhetoric programs, and honestly had no idea that it was an independent discipline? I always assumed it was the professionalization and pedagogy support track for English and Literature programs, and don't see how it merits its own field of study. Is it just for people who want to be admins and not researchers? Is it adjunct training? Can people seriously just read about Aristotle for four years? 

I ask both out of confusion and because I keep seeing references to funding for MAs. I'm half funded for my English PhD, and think it's ridiculous that there is funding available for Composition and Rhetoric when there are real academics not getting as much money. 

[silenus_thescribe]

I ask both out of confusion and because I keep seeing references to funding for MAs. I'm half funded for my English PhD, and think it's ridiculous that there is funding available for Composition and Rhetoric when there are real academics not getting as much money. 

If this post is a troll.... stop.

If this post is genuine in its question: look up the answer for yourself. It's pretty obvious. Rhet/comp people do a hell of a lot more than regurgitate Aristotelianisms. Rhet/comp is a robust scholarly field. Even the most basic Google search would tell you that. 

Edited October 9, 2015 by silenus_thescribe

[Romanista]

 

I keep seeing people in here asking about Composition and Rhetoric programs, and honestly had no idea that it was an independent discipline? I always assumed it was the professionalization and pedagogy support track for English and Literature programs, and don't see how it merits its own field of study. Is it just for people who want to be admins and not researchers? Is it adjunct training? Can people seriously just read about Aristotle for four years? 

I ask both out of confusion and because I keep seeing references to funding for MAs. I'm half funded for my English PhD, and think it's ridiculous that there is funding available for Composition and Rhetoric when there are real academics not getting as much money. 

Sometimes I get jealous of the better situation of graduate students in the sciences, with their higher stipends and opportunities for collaborative (and government funded) research. But I wouldn't go so far as to question whether those were actual fields.

Shouldn't you be writing the 78,000,000th article on wordplay in Ulysses?

[Ramus]

Shouldn't you be writing the 78,000,000th article on wordplay in Ulysses?

This is just as pointless as the suggestion that RhetComp folks aren't real academics. What's the use in dismissing out of hand large swaths of academic work? It's facile and anti-intellectual.

[Between Fields]

I keep seeing people in here asking about Composition and Rhetoric programs, and honestly had no idea that it was an independent discipline? I always assumed it was the professionalization and pedagogy support track for English and Literature programs, and don't see how it merits its own field of study. Is it just for people who want to be admins and not researchers? Is it adjunct training? Can people seriously just read about Aristotle for four years? 

I ask both out of confusion and because I keep seeing references to funding for MAs. I'm half funded for my English PhD, and think it's ridiculous that there is funding available for Composition and Rhetoric when there are real academics not getting as much money. 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but perhaps your ignorance of the landscape of academia is what led you to pursue a half-funded PhD in the first place. No one should pay out of pocket for a PhD in any subject.

[ProfLorax]

JohnR: it would actually be useful for you to study rhetoric and composition. If you did, you would learn about stasis theory, and understand why making a value/proposal claim before establishing a definition makes for a weak argument. 

Also, maybe you should worry less about the academic credibility of rhet/comp and worry more about your half-funding. That has nothing to do with rhet/comp but the messed up priorities of your department. PhD students should be fully funded PERIOD, and your department is screwing you over. They are your adversaries, and rhet/comp grad students would likely join you in advocating for more funding and fair labor treatment. Because we're activist-scholar ballers like that. 

Edited October 9, 2015 by ProfLorax
JUST BECAUSE.

[rhetoricus aesalon]

JohnR: it would actually be useful for you to study rhetoric and composition. If you did, you would learn about stasis theory, and understand why making a value/proposal claim before establishing a definition makes for a weak argument. 

Also, maybe you should worry less about the academic credibility of rhet/comp and worry more about your half-funding. That has nothing to do with rhet/comp but the messed up priorities of your department. PhD students should be fully funded PERIOD, and your department is screwing you over. They are your adversaries, and rhet/comp grad students would likely join you in advocating for more funding and fair labor treatment. Because we're activist-scholar ballers like that. 

 

[ExponentialDecay]

 

And by that I mean, damn, OP got majorly trolled by his department lol.

Edited October 10, 2015 by ExponentialDecay

[dr. t]

[bhr]

I'm just happy that this is a crazy week and I didn't have time to weigh in

[toasterazzi]

[1Q84]

Comp/Rhet is not a real field because those boring Aristotleans refuse to wear suede elbow patches like the rest of us real academics.

[Dr. Old Bill]

Comp/Rhet is not a real field because those boring Aristotleans refuse to wear suede elbow patches like the rest of us real academics.

Ooh. This could be a meme!

Comp/Rhet is not a real field because...

...writing should only ever be about literature. Duh.

...this is English, and we have no time for Greek terms like ethos and kairos.

...you're obviously born with the ability to write perfect sentences and make compelling arguments.

C'mon folks, let's keep it going!

[ProfLorax]

Comp/Rhet is not a real field because those boring Aristotleans refuse to wear suede elbow patches like the rest of us real academics.

::frantically superglues suede patches directly to my elbows:: I JUST WANT TO BE LOVED. 

[pro Augustis]

The generally preposterous nature of this has already been addressed, but I was particularly struck by this: 

Can people seriously just read about Aristotle for four years? 

As someone coming from the Classics side of things, I can safely say that yes, people can most certainly read about Aristotle for four years. The dude wrote a lot, and enough has been written about him that I'd wager you could read for four years and still not have read half of it. 

[SilasWegg]

Comp/Rhet is not a real field because those boring Aristotleans refuse to wear suede elbow patches like the rest of us real academics.

now that this thread has touched upon the great un-charted and under-examined topic of academic fashion... 

this year i don't have to teach but i have a ton of coursework. this is the first time in a long time that i haven't had to put on a funny little blazer or a plaid tie everyday. reveling in my new found fashion freedoms, i have begun dressing like a teenager for class. no more suede elbow patches for me! however, more and more, i find myself wondering if wearing band tshirts, jeans, sneakers, and ratty thrift store sweaters and/or third generation hand-me-down flanels to seminar makes me look like a filthy slacker who just finished huffing gas in the parking lot. is the seminar NOT anything goes fashion-wise? am i supposed to be going business casual to these class meetings? or is there a happy fashion code middle ground which i have transgressed with impunity?