Lit 6934: Rhetoric, Science Studies and the New Materialism Spring 2016 Carl Herndl office hours 335 Cooper Mon: 2:00-3:00 cgh@usf.edu Wed. 1:30-3:30 and by appointment This course explores a emerging body of theory and research on what is called the new Materialism in Rhetoric, Science Studies, Political Theory, and Philosophy. Our work is organized by three questions that lie at the intersection of rhetoric, science studies and Rhetoric.: --What does it mean to understand science as a material practice rather than an epistemic project? As a doing rather than a finding or discovering? --What are the rhetorical opportunities and challenges within new materialist theory for engaging science more effectively in politics and policy debates? How can science become more engaged in policy and address matters of concern to our society? --What are the implications and possibilities opened to rhetoric--both in theory building and in rhetorical practice--by contemporary work in science studies, political science and feminism? More specifically, how is rhetoric engaging with the theory of the Thing and the new forms of materialism? There are undoubtedly many ways to approach these questions, but I am going to organize our exploration around the work of Bruno Latour and the emerging movement known as object oriented ontology. Latour is perhaps the most prominent scholar in science studies and, at the risk of being reductive or omitting other important strains of the discipline, I am going to use his work to represent science studies. At least two other science studies scholars of similar theoretical position are Anne Marie Mol and Andrew Pickering whose work will figure as supplements to Latour s. After we work through (some of) Latour s central texts, we will examine similar developments in political theory and feminism. Finally, at various points in the semester, we will look at specific ways Latour and new materialism are beginning to emerge in rhetoric and technical communication. Mapping the questions to the readings The first question above-- What does it mean to understand science as a material practice rather than an epistemic project?- is a central question of science studies over the last 20 years. And this question occupies the first half of Latour s career from Laboratory Life (1979), Science in Action (1987) The Pasteurization of France (1988), to Aramis or the Love of Technology (1996). It also leads science studies to the argument of multiple ontologies and postplural science studies, e.g. Anne Marie Mol The Body Multiple, Andrew Pickering The Mangle in Practice and The Cybernetic Brain. (see Graham and Herndl TCQ 22.2 (2013)). We will explore these issues with a couple selections from Science in Action and in reading We Have Never Been Modern (1993) and Pandora s Hope (1999). In science Studies and more recently in rhetoric, the interest in tracing what scientists actually do and how
they do it, is the focus of what is known as Actor Network Theory or ANT. This is beginning to be reinterpreted in rhetoric as a research methodology. The second question above-- How can science become more engaged in policy and address matters of concern to our society? emerges from Latour s realization that science and science studies must be concerned with politics and policy. It is part of Latour s response to what he calls ecocide, the human destruction of the ecosystem and ourselves along with it. This concern appears most prominently in about 2004 in his essay Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam and in Politics of Nature (2004) and Reassembling the Social (2007). Latour s work on policy has been influential in political science and we will read this emerging work in Braun, and Whatmore s edited collection Political Matter: Technoscience, Democracy and Public Life (2010) and Jane Bennett s Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (2010). This is reflected in rhetoric by scholars such as Herbert Simons who argues for a reconstructive rhetoric, and by rhetorical scholars arguing for ethics, especially working from Levinas, e.g. Davis, Rickert and Santos. The third question above What are the implications and opportunities for rhetoric in this intersection? has heretofore been a concern mostly for scholars in rhetoric of science and technology, but has recently emerged into wider rhetorical circles. To explore this line of research, we will read chapters from Thomas Rickert s Ambient Rhetoric (2013), Paul Lynch and Nathaniel Rivers Thinking with Bruno Latour in Rhetoric and Composition (2015), and Dan Richards and Kristen Moore s Posthuman Praxis in Technical Communication (forthcoming). Work Reading and talking: There is a lot of reading in the course; none of it is easy; and most of it will be new to you. So, the biggest piece of work in the course is doing all the reading and coming to class prepared to discuss it with the group. I expect everyone to be in class and to talk every week. Missing classes and being silent in class will lower your final grade significantly. You cannot get an A in the course if you do not talk regularly and substantially. Writing: The second part of your work will be a substantial piece or pieces of writing. Since some of you are completely unfamiliar with this material while others will have read greater or lesser parts of it, I will let each of you determine what purpose and form your writing will take. Think about what form of writing is going to be most useful for you and write me a proposal in the form of a writing contract : what will you write? What purpose does it serve for you? how long will it be? when will I get it? Ph.D. students should aim at 15-20 pages for a continuous argument; MA Students 10-15 pages. Since reading logs are not continuous or new argument, they should be longer (in total). For reading logs Ph.D. students 20-30 pages, MA 15-20 pages. One Caveat: all papers and logs have to be about the materials and topics in this class. One piece of advice: the more you link the reading logs to other readings in rhetorical theory or rhetoric of science, the better sense of the field you ll have. Writing contracts are due Monday 2/1/2016.
On the first day of class, we will talk about alternative electronic and collective forms of writing that we might work on as a group: a class blog, a website with documents and annotations, a video of you all singing a chapter from Pandora s Hope in Gregorian chant. I d like to take advantage of electronic and collaborative opportunities and am happy to consider some reasonable alternative to traditional writing assignments. Grades Your final grade will be determined by your participation in the class discussions and your written work in equal proportions. The last day to turn materials in will be the day scheduled for the final exam. Books Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham NC: Duke UP, (2010) ISBN 978-0-8223-4633-3. Coole, Diana and Frost, Samantha. New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, Practice. Durham NC; Duke UP, (2010) 978-0-8223-4772-9 Latour. Bruno. We Have Never Been Modern. Harvard UP (1993) ISBN 0-674-94839-4 ---. Pandora s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies. Harvard (1999) 0-674- 65336-X ---. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor Network Theory. Oxford UP (2007) 0-19-925605-5 ---. The Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy Nature. Harvard (2004) 0-674-01347- Articles and book chapters Barad, Karen. Getting Real: Technoscientific Practices and the Materialization of Reality. Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 10.2 (1998), 87-128. ---. Posthuman Performativity: Toward an Understanding of How Matter Comes to Matter. Signs. 28.3 (2003) 801-31. Braun Bruce & Whatmore, Sarah. The Stuff of Politics: An Introduction. Political Matter: Technoscience, Democracy and Public Life. Minneapolis: U Minn P (2010). ix-xxxiii. Graham, Scott. Introduction. The Politics of Pain: A Rhetorical-Ontological Inquiry. Chicago: U Chicago P, 2015, 1-22. Herndl, Carl & Graham Scott. Getting Over Incommensurability: Latour, New Materialism and the Rhetoric of Democracy. H, Paul & Rivers, Nathaniel. Thinking With Bruno Latour in Rhetoric and Composition. Carbondale: SIUP, 2015, 40-58. Latour, Bruno. Why has Critique Run Out of Steam Critical Inquiry 30 (2004) 225-48. ---. Opening Pandora s Black Box Science in Action. Cambridge: HUP, 1987, 1-17. ---. Tribunals of Reason. Science in Action. Cambridge: HUP, 1987, 179-214. Rickert, Thomas. The Rhetorical Thing Ambient Rhetoric: The Attunements of Rhetorical Being. Pittsburg: U Pittsburg P. 2013, 191-219. ---. Ambient Dwelling. Ambient Rhetoric: The Attunements of Rhetorical Being. Pittsburg: U Pittsburg P. 2013. 220-245.
---. Attuning to Sufficiency Ambient Rhetoric: The Attunements of Rhetorical Being. Pittsburg: U Pittsburg P, 2013. 246-70. Santos, Marc. Uncrossing God: What Levinas Ethics Might Contribute to Latour s Politics. Can Philosophy and Rhetoric (2015): 48.3 313-36. Add Heidegger on the Thing: Heidegger. Building Dwelling Thinking. In Poetry, Language, Thought. (1971) pp. 143-161. ---. The Thing. In Poetry, Language, Thought. Pp. 163-186. Add Graham on non-heideggerian materialism. (see Caroline Gotschaulk Dreuske s ARST 2016 paper for citation.)
Reading Schedule 1/11 Coole and Frost. Introducing the New Materialisms (1-39) Herndl & Graham. Getting Over Incommensurability (40-58) Graham. Introduction Politics of Pain (1-22) 1/18 MLK Holiday 1/25 Latour. We Have Never Been Modern ---. Opening Pandora s Black Box. Science In Action. (1-17) ---. Tribunals of Reason. Science in Action (179-214) 2/1 Latour. Pandora s Hope chapters 1-5 (1-174) 2/8 Latour. Pandora s Hope chapters 6-Conclusion (175-300) 2/15 Latour. Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam? Rickert. The Rhetorical Thing from Ambient Rhetoric (191-219) ---. Ambient Dwelling from Ambient Rhetoric (220-245) 2/22 Rickert. Attuning to Sufficiency from Ambient Rhetoric (246-70) Santos. Uncrossing God Philosophy and Rhetoric 48.3 313-36. 2/29 Latour. Reassembling the Social 1-158 3/7 Latour. Reassembling the Social 159-262. 3/14 Spring Break 3/21 Latour. Politics of Nature 3/28 Bennett. Vibrant Matter (1-122) Braun and Whatmore. The Stuff of Politics. (ix-xxxiii). 4/4 Coole & Frost chapters: Grosz, Braidotti, Krunks Barad. Getting Real & Posthuman Performativity 4/11 Lynch, Paul & Rivers, Nathaniel. Thinking With Bruno Latour in Rhetoric and Composition. Introduction and selected chapters. 4/18 Richards, Dan & Moore, Kristen. Posthuman Praxis in Technical Communication. Selected chapters. 4/25 Open Final Exam Date: Writing Assignment Due.