Students work under the supervision of a selected rhetoric faculty member. Seniors must complete RHETOR 10, RHETOR 20, RHETOR 103A, and RHETOR 103B and maintain a minimum 3.7 grade-point average (GPA) in rhetoric and a 3.5 overall Berkeley GPA to undertake the two-semester honors thesis series, RHETOR H190A- RHETOR H190B. Students must present a copy of their transcript along with their petition and application to the undergraduate assistant for approval signature and a brief orientation. The petition is also available from the College of Letters & Science in 206 Evans Hall. Obtain a Petition to Declare the Major and the Rhetoric Major Application from the undergraduate assistant in 7406 Dwinelle Hall. The major may be declared after completion of RHETOR 10 or RHETOR 20 with a letter grade of C or better.
Students consider the production and reception of narrative literature-oral, epic, folktale, lyric poem, novel, and film-in an attempt to understand the boundaries of the aesthetic text as a rhetorical analysis of particular literary and visual genres arising in a variety of cultures and historical epochs. This area of concentration focuses on understanding the function of rhetoric in literary, cinematic, and visual texts, with emphasis on the role of figure and image in the representation of reality. Individual courses will enable close study of specific problems, concerns, vocabularies, modes of interpretation, and strategies of argumentation arising in public forums of the past and present. Students consider the discourse of law, politics, and society both in theory and in practice, in an attempt to understand the rhetorical nature of political judgment, action, justice, and legitimacy. This area of concentration focuses on understanding rhetoric in its symbolic and institutional dimensions, with special emphasis on legal and political forums. Individual courses will enable close study of the process of rhetoric's influence and adaptation, both in theory and in practice, in specific contexts throughout its history. Students will consider how the discipline of rhetoric has both shaped and itself been shaped by social, political, technological, and intellectual developments over the course of two millennia. This area of concentration focuses on understanding the development of rhetorical theory and practice from its genesis in the classical period to its situation in the present.
Students in the Rhetoric major choose one area of concentration: history and theory of rhetoric, public discourse, or narrative and image. The major is not intended to provide skills-based training in oral argument or communication. Through its emphasis on the history and theory of rhetoric, the department provides an understanding of the format of contemporary theories of interpretation as well as an opportunity, within this framework, to explore the role of persuasion in pragmatic and aesthetic contexts. The combination allows students to make a disciplined grasp of the contemporary character of rhetoric and language. The department offers both a pragmatic understanding of the elements of rhetorical analysis, with special attention to logic, style, tropes, figures, and images, and a thorough grounding in the historical development of these elements in rhetorical theory. Rhetoric majors are trained in the history of rhetorical theory and practice, grounded in argumentation and in the analysis of the symbolic and institutional dimensions of discourse.
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