2.2 Grant-Davie again = constraints

In class today we reviewed exigence, rhetors, and audience, and took up discussion of constraints = factors in the situation's context that may affect the achievement of the rhetorical objectives.  One example we used in class was that of a rhetorical situation where the rhetor's audience is a very angry person.  The audience's identity is SEPARATE from the constraints - but expectations and knowledge about how to talk to people  who are angry (discourse = a particular pattern for using language) will be constraints within this rhetorical situation.  You indicated that your discourse would need to be receptive (listen), indirect (not try to make your point directly), and be emotionally neutral.   And within our culture we agreed that those are constraints for any person who hopes to be "heard" by someone who is angry.

As Grant-Davie pointed out, constraints can come from the history of earlier discussions, or from the way you have already started to make your argument.  They can involve more than one rhetor or audience, and they can connect to economics, law and expectations about what is "right" or fair, or the "proper" way to talk.

We spend the last part of class looking at essays written in response to a placement prompt from David Bartholomae's essay, "Inventing the University" and talked about the "constraints" on acceptable discourse for college writers that may or may not be identified either in the prompt - or in the instructor's evaluation of the essay.  In many cases, constraints are not 100% conscious, and they can involve subtle expectations about "the right way" to demonstrate "authority," or to organize your ideas, the right "connections to make" or the right way to choose and develop examples.  As we saw in the sample essays, one writer understood the constraints in college writing discourse and was able to write to them - and the other writer kind of an idea - and made a good attempt - but fell short, maybe because he was not used to writing or talking that way.

Constraints in college writing often have to do with academic discourse but - as you pointed out in class -they vary from instructor to instructor, and topic to topic.  So as rhetors - you need to notice and make decisions about the "constraints" that go with any given writing assignment.  Some up-front thinking about constraints - can help all of us become more effective communicatiors.

For next class:
1. Read through directions for the auto-ethnography assignment on page 322.  Just read through and we will answer questions and talk through what comes next in class on Monday.  For now - the only "action" you need to take is to think about which writing task/assignment/project(s) you want to document.  As you noticed in the assignment, the project asks you to document your process IN DETAIL for one particular composition - and it suggests that you use the assignment to learn about your writing process, or possibly to gather information about why you have trouble with particular kinds of assignments.  We will do some in-class talk/writing about this on Monday.
2. Read, James Porter, p. 86, Intertextuality and the Discourse Community

Have a great weekend and see you Monday.