Category Archives: Snippet

In Class 3.2

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In Class: the Cultural Mission of Museums

WordCloud Site: link.

Their History and their Present Purpose
What are museums for? Where do they come from?

Rethinking Cotter
In our last class we debated Holland Cotter’s suggestion that memorials raised to celebrate the Confederacy should be moved to museums. Interestingly, a group of five museum professionals responded to his article with a firm, “No, thank you”: link.
The Peabody-Essex Museum
Let’s look at the mission statement of the Peabody-Essex Museum to find out how its leadership situates the organization in relation to these different models for what museums do: link.

In Class 3.1

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In Class

Rhetoric and War
The Visual Rhetoric of WWI and WWII
Patriotic Songs
Spotify playlist
WWI Posters

In Class 2.2

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A Problem Closer to Home (literally)

You all will likely recognize this view, as it’s been in the background for all my Zoom appearances, both this semester and last.

It’s a print from John James Audubon’s Birds of America, a massive volume full of color illustrations created not merely as art but as science: an effort to establish “type specimens” of many birds.

It turns out that Audubon is a bit of a racist, though: link. I saw this article just this morning. It was the first I heard about Audubon’s history as a slave owner and racist. Read the article and then come back to class ready to discuss the real and pressing question of whether I need to remove that image from my wall.

In Class 2.1

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In Class

Sun-Yat Sen Sculptures
Sun-Yat Sen

Born Sun Deming (1866 – 1925) Sun-Yat Sen was a Chinese statesman, physician, and political philosopher, who served as the provisional first president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China). He is called the “Father of the Nation” in the Republic of China, and the “Forerunner of the Revolution” in the People’s Republic of China for his instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the Xinhai Revolution. Sun is unique among 20th-century Chinese leaders for being widely revered in both mainland China and Taiwan.
—Wikipedia

Some Sun-Yat Sen Memorials around the world

  • in Guangzhou, China: link
  • in Taipei, Taiwan: link;
    • also in Taipei, radicals topple statue: link
  • in Honolulu, Hawaii: link
  • in San Francisco, California; link
  • in Toronto, Canada: link
  • in New York City: link

Choose a sculpture to read up on, then come back prepared to talk about why Sun-Yat Sen is in that location and what his figure means to the people there.

Mt Auburn Writeup

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Mt Auburn Writeup

On the tour Tuesday, we asked you to find and photograph something striking. Post your photograph in the comments below, together with a brief writeup (3-5 sentences, max) connecting what we see in the photo to our recent discussions of visual rhetoric and memorials.

Note: the max file size is 12MB, so if you’re having trouble with the attachment, that may be the problem. The other issue is with .heic files—open them and save-as or export to .jpg.

Course Description

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Through class discussion and learning experiences, students explore connections between readings assigned in Rhetoric and those in other courses, focusing on themes drawn from the two units that comprise the semester’s curriculum. The course further develops skills in expository writing and introduces exploratory essay writing. Students continue to explore the contemporary relevance and meaning of the interdisciplinary curriculum. Students refine their skills in grammar, style, organization, and document design. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: First-Year Writing Seminar, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Critical Thinking.