So, I had the start of this thought after our very first class, and it expanded/continued into our second session: what does Rhet/Comp look like outside the U.S. and U.S. academia? Does it exist? Is it called something else? Is it seen as something with inherent value? In class this week Trina/Robin both made a good point re: my Freire response: that Brazil and other countries have very different teacher-student dynamics than the U.S. does. Since international students seem to be more and more the norm at U.S. institutions, it seems like this is all the more relevant to us as freshman composition instructors; before we start talking theses, topic sentences, and the value of written argument, are there cultural bridges we need to cross to introduce students to the concept of it all?
Anecdotally, I’ve had international friends and teacher friends tell me that there are cultures where people don’t tend to communicate in a linear way–particularly when they’re trying to persuade or move someone to action–so the idea of a linear, written argument doesn’t make much sense in that context. Along with that, oral argument/storytelling/communication/history (vs. written) seems to have been the norm for (sweeping claim) most of the world for most of its history. More questions: Is Rhet/Comp a mostly European/American thing? Is Rhet/Comp, or something similar, present in other parts of the world? What does it look like? Are there cultural nuances to it? Or would we find our standard superimposed on other culture’s education systems? Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.