| Popis: |
In this dissertation I argue for a critical re-investigation of several connected rhetorical traditions, and then for the re-articulation of theories of composition pedagogy in order to more fully recognize the importance of embodied differences. Metis is the rhetorical art of cunning, the use of embodied strategies—what Certeau calls everyday arts—to transform rhetorical situations. In a world of chance and change, metis is what allows us to craft available means for persuasion. Building on the work of Detienne and Vernant, and Certeau, I argue that metis is a way to recognize that all rhetoric is embodied. I show that embodiment is a feeling for difference, and always references norms of gender, race, sexuality, class, citizenship. Developing the concept of metis I show how embodiment forms and transforms in reference to norms of ability, the constraints and enablements of our bodied knowing. I exercise my own metis as I re-tell the mythical stories of Hephaestus and Metis, and re-examine the dialogues of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and Quintillian. I weave through the images of embodiment trafficked in phenomenological philosophy, and I apply my own models to the teaching of writing as an embodied practice, forging new tools for learning. I strategically interrogate the ways that academic spaces circumscribe roles for bodies/minds, and critique the discipline of composition’s investment in the erection of boundaries. I propose new ways to conceptualize rhetorical history, embodiment, composition’s geographies, pedagogies, and engagements. |
