Situating Ourselves: The Development of Doctoral Programs in Rhetoric and Composition

Abstract

The discipline of rhetoric and composition is often defined by binaries: rhetoric/composition, teaching/practice. Our doctoral programs, however, occupy space at both ends of the spectrum through the simultaneous emphasis on composition pedagogy and rhetorical theory. The changing curricula in doctoral programs offer a unique lens through which to interpret some of the forces that have shaped rhetoric and composition as it has developed in the past fifty years. Examining the curricula highlights how our disciplinary identity has been shaped, at least in part, by our various institutional locations.

Notes

¹I thank Rhetoric Review peer reviewers Janice Lauer and Louise Phelps for their invaluable suggestions for revision.

²Although the discipline is referred to by multiple names, depending on the context, I prefer rhetoric and composition. Occasionally some of my sources will refer to doctoral programs in rhetoric or doctoral programs in composition, but I do not mean to elevate one over the other. I aim to move beyond the binary and emphasize the unified “and.”

³Interdisciplinarity is a specific state of interplay between two disciplines when two distinct disciplines merge, usually with the goal of solving a specific problem. Other terms, such as cross- or multidisciplinary are looser, generally referring to the work that happens when a member of one discipline turns to the scholarship of a different discipline in the course of his or her scholarship. This sort of intermingling does not generally require the participation of both disciplines, nor is it often sustainable. For more on the levels of disciplinary interplay, see Klein.