I am in the early stages of designing and proposing my own Rhetoric course here at UT. The standard convention is teaching a course named "The Rhetoric of..." fill in your topic here. It will come as no surprise to you that I am thinking of teaching the rhetoric of political violence. My interest will be pushing the concepts of peace, war, oppression, security, violence, retribution, resistance, revolution, protest and the like. (I am also thinking about the practices of war and peace, national security and civil rights, captial punishment and torture, peaceful protest and revolution.)
I have ulterior motives in telling you this. I want to exploit you as resources. I am wondering what kinds of texts-- poems, novels, songs, films, essays, etc-- you might recommend for giving undergraduates a conceptual vocabulary to think and write about violence in the political sphere-- particularly violence that is framed as necessary and/or instrumental. A text that justifies violence could be as useful as one that presents my own personal pacifist views (although I will, of course, appreciate that kind of suggestion). Particularly, does anyone know of fitting texts by MLK or Ghandi?
[My second choice might be a rhetoric of profit, so if you have any great ideas in that direction...]
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I'll think about some actual academic resources later, but for now, this bit of news from France via the NYT might be of interest:
The French government is considering a proposal to test the DNA of immigrants to "verify the bloodlines of would-be immigrants who want to join family members already living in France." Obviously, there are those that are raising questions over the extent to which French citizens want the government developing genetic profiles of citizens and/or aliens, who owns or controls that information, and how it can be used. Of course, it's all in the name of national security, so how could it be wrong?
Off the top of my fatigued head: Luther's "Against the Peasants" (here's a characteristic: "Just as one must slay a mad dog, so, if you do not fight the rebels, they will fight you, and the whole country with you"). Tiananmen Square. "these are the times that try men's souls." The Revere pamphlet on the "Boston Massacre" contrasted with portions of the transcript of Adams's masterful defense on behalf of the British soldiers (Adam's won the highly charged case). "Over There".
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