Making Your Voice Heard: The Arts of Oral Communication, Critical Speaking, and Digital Rhetoric

From ancient storytelling and Aristotelian rhetoric to contemporary Ted talks and Vox Pop podcasts, oral communication remains one of the most varied, meaningful, and influential arts of human expression. This course introduces students to the complex traditions, legacies, and emerging landscapes for oral communication, critical speaking, and digital rhetoric in academic, professional, public, and social contexts. Of central importance will be a focus on the ethics and socio-cultural structures that shape oral communication and that impact whose voices tend to be heard and whose voices often remain less heard.