Teaching East Asian rhetoric

Abstract

Our profession has regretfully overlooked the rhetoric of Asia. The growing importance of the Pacific region as well as the intrinsic worth of such a study should persuade us to free ourselves from such ethnocentric myopia. While a few courses and some convention papers and journal articles are beginning to appear, there needs to be many more. While some recent empirical studies in cross cultural communication have discussed Asian contexts, there have been very few humanistic studies of Asian rhetoric. A suggested course is here outlined, with recommended readings and projects, and suggested sources for Asian speeches in English.