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Rhetorical Studies

In the area of rhetorical studies, students address a variety of topics, ranging from foundational moments in the history of rhetoric to pressing issues in American public culture and contemporary social theory.  Specific lines of inquiry include—but are in no way limited to—narrative theory, political communication, rhetoric and ordinary democracy, rhetoric and public relations, the rhetoric of work, rhetoric and the law, rhetoric and democratic deliberation, rhetoric and contemporary social theory, argumentation, and philosophical approaches to public culture.  Students also explore a variety of research methods—not only rhetorical criticism and critical-historical inquiry, but also related methodologies such as ethnography, discourse analysis, critical narrative analysis, and other qualitative communication research methods.  

Reasons to Study Rhetoric at Purdue

  1. Obtain a degree from one of the top-ranked communication programs in the nation
  2. Work with respected and productive scholars in the discipline
  3. Participate in stimulating courses covering a wide variety of areas
  4. Design a personally-tailored plan of study that best suits your interests
  5. Collaborate with faculty members and fellow graduate students on research projects
  6. Teach or assist with undergraduate communication courses
Program Strengths and Faculty Interests
  1. Josh Boyd: Organizational rhetoric
  2. Robin Clair: Rhetoric of work; rhetoric of race, class, and gender; narrative theory; ethnography
  3. Samuel McCormick: Rhetoric and public advocacy, communication and social theory, intellectual and cultural history, contemporary American civic life

Communication Faculty with Related Interests

  1. Patrice Buzzanell: Discourse and ideology of career, work-life, leadership, and resilience
  2. Stacey Connaughton: Identification, leadership, distributed organizational forms, political parties
  3. Mohan Jyoti Dutta: Critical theory, resistance, postcolonial studies, Subaltern Studies
  4. Felicia Roberts: Embodied action and discourse identities, structures and processes of talk-in-interaction, construction of expertise (esp. advice and recommendations)

Recent Course Offerings

Theories of Rhetoric, Rhetoric of Work, Narrative Theory, Contemporary Rhetorical Theory, Corporate Advocacy, Rhetorical Criticism, Critical-Historical Methods, Rhetoric of Everyday Life, Rhetoric and Marxism, Rhetoric and Ordinary Democracy, Rhetorical Approaches to Issues Management

Interdisciplinary Connections

  1. Department of History
  2. Department of Philosophy ( Joint Ph.D. Program in Communication and Philosophy)
  3. Department of Political Science
  4. Department of Sociology
  5. Department of English
  6. Interdisciplinary Program in Classical Studies

For more information contact Robin Clair, rpclair@purdue.edu or Sam McCormick, smccorm@purdue.edu.