HR: Instructor, Classmates, template.net and advice.writing.utoronto.ca for academic proposal help, Internet, google.com, Word and its system aids, Assignment, Syllabus, Canvas, sites for citation information and to find sources, Purdue OWL for citation help, Project MUSE and its provided citation for citation information, SUNY Press for citation information, other parts of this project, Annotated Bibliography, Textbook Chapter, Letter to the Editor, ePortfolio and its aids, Class, Class Discussion, Classmates and class ideas, Discussion, Class materials, books, readings, parts of the sources for citation, Purdue OWL, sources for art, JSTOR, Preston Library and its aids and materials, Project MUSE, SUNY Press, Cadet McDonald and Morgan for citation advice, Taylor & Francis Online, Herrick, link to editor provided, revisions on chapter and all work, Writing Center, Mrs. Johnson, page 472 of The Everyday Writer they let me take a picture of on my phone in the Writing Center for citation help, Ms. Basnight for revision advice, email for spelling and Writing Center email.

 

Dear Mr. Eschrich,

It is prominent that this work is from an expert of this type of writing (“Brian”). The work, The History and Theory of Rhetoric, is greatly appreciated and shows all the hard work put forth in its creation. The information presented by The History and Theory of Rhetoric does a phenomenal job of discussing the Western tradition of rhetoric and how rhetoric can be defined based on those Western principles. The work that is available is valuable beyond measure. In order to add to this run of book titles, another textbook needs to be incorporated in order to include other cultures and their rhetoric outside of the Western tradition. An entire new textbook would appear to work best given that The History and Theory of Rhetoric is already extensive on its coverage of the Western tradition. It would be too much of a stretch to add other cultures into this existing title. A standalone textbook for other cultures would not only provide enough leeway to expand on new cultures, but it would stop The History and Theory of Rhetoric from having to be condensed unnecessarily. It is important that all cultures being discussed are represented as they should be and to the extent they should be.

When studying rhetoric, it is important to learn not only the valuable themes of Western rhetoric, but it is also critical to establish the non-Western culture within the definition of rhetoric. This is a major point of discussion within the realm of academia (Lipson and Binkley 1-2; Strandjord 281). This addition can be difficult to implement, of course, due to restraints such as time available to instruct students, but the attempt can be made to include other cultures (Strandjord 281-282). When only using Western culture, the definition and ways of rhetoric tend to be skewed towards the Western way of rhetoric and make it appear as the only means (Lipson and Binkley 2-3). Including non-Western conventions of rhetorical traditions will also help to close holes that the Western tradition alone cannot help but leave due to not having other cultures included (Lipson and Binkley 2). The fact that these other cultures have such riveting information and accomplishments within themselves needs to be included (Lipson and Binkley 3). For instance, non-Greek cultures had been forming their own practices a while before the Greeks and this formation points at their knowledge of rhetoric because it was necessary to develop as they did (Lipson and Binkley 3).

One of the cultures that is an example that should be included in the conversation is the Irish because even though they are close in proximity to those cultures of the Western tradition they are nowhere near them in their practice of rhetoric. It has been a semester of discovery to uncover the ways of the Irish and their rhetoric and show their place in the conversation. The differences that Ireland exhibits can be seen for instance by knowing that Ireland was never taken over by the Romans like England was and Ireland developed independent of what was happening in Rome (Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 233). Also, another point is that even though Christianity arrived in Ireland it changed to fit them instead of Ireland having to change (Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 233-234). Ireland’s own religion was able to be mesh with Christianity and its practices (Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 234). It is major that Ireland was separate and missed periods of turmoil that inflicted Europe in the 400s to 800s and was able to still grow while Europe could not (Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 233-234). The Irish see themselves as not having to pass this bump in history and did not have to endure that gap (Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 234). Those of Ireland hold their histories dear for this reason (Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 234). Rhetoric is thought to have long lived in Ireland and that is supported by the god the Irish attributed to rhetoric known as Ogma (Johnson-Sheehan 267).

Although, there are some similarities within the Irish practices to those of Western cultures such as strength of the spoken word or that the Druids of Ireland were similar to the Sophists of Greece by both being rhetors (Johnson-Sheehan 267; Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 233,242). The Irish were different in many ways as stated before in their history. Some other differences their rhetoric shows are that persuasion is not as major of a goal to the Irish as it is to Western rhetoric (Johnson-Sheehan 272-273).  Also, the Irish felt that a lot of the strength that came from spoken word related to magic (Johnson-Sheehan 267; Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 241). Irish rhetoric has principles of loyalty, generosity, courage, and beauty (Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 237-238, 241; Johnson-Sheehan 273). The Irish restate points until they reach the status of main beliefs and given that the Irish depended on spoken word, in turn rhetoric was utilized as a means of establishing tradition and if establishment was hard to create hostility could be utilized to make it happen (Johnson-Sheehan 267, 272-273; Johnson-Sheehan and Lynch 237-238,241). Ireland gives a new picture outside of that of Aristotle or Plato who are still unarguably important to the traditions of rhetoric, but they are not all of what rhetoric is (Johnson-Sheehan 268; Class, Herrick). The differences that Irish rhetoric establish give the culture its own leg to stand on in the conversation of rhetoric.

Given that Ireland and the rhetoric of its culture prove worthy and that it is unique, this gives reason to why a new textbook should be offered. That new textbook can provide not only a section for Ireland but other sections for cultures that stand out from the Western tradition of rhetoric. This could be China or Egypt, for example (Lipson and Binkley 1-24; Johnson-Sheehan v-vi)

In a broader sense of the issue at hand with defining rhetoric, not only cultures have been missed in the discussion of rhetoric (Lipson and Binkley 2). Some other topics that could be future subjects to discuss within textbooks include race or gender and status within society (Lipson and Binkley 2). The issue of rhetoric can be thought of in this broader sense, and by using the valuable work The History and Theory of Rhetoric has presented the definition of rhetoric could be widened and expanded even further. This will be an ongoing process in terms of time because the world and the cultures it includes will always be adapting and present more rhetoric as it does so. With works like The History and Theory of Rhetoric, they lay a phenomenal base and give a jumping off point for future textbooks for students to come. The culture of Ireland is a piece of the puzzle to be included within the much bigger picture.

Thank you for your time and valuable effort again,

Cecelia Ivey

 

 

 

Bibliography

“7+ Academic Proposal Templates – Word, PDF.” Template.net. Template.net, 2018, www.template.net. Accessed 3          Dec. 2018.

Bottigheimer, Karl S. Ireland and the Irish. Columbia University Press, 1982, pp. 1-112.

“Brian Eschrich.” Routledge Taylor& Francis Group. Taylor & Francis Group, 2018,                                                                  www.routledge.com/contacts/14239. Accessed 10 Dec. 2018.

Herrick, James A. The History and Theory of Rhetoric. New York, Routledge, 2018, pp. 134-162.

Image on page 155 of Joyce.

Jauch, Martina. “Sample Acamedic Proposals from the Purdue OWL.” Template.net. Template.net, 2018,                            www.template.net. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.pdf.

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. “11 Orality, Magic, and Myth in Ancient Irish Rhetoric.” Ancient Non-Greek Rhetorics,           Edited by Carol S. Lipson and Roberta A. Binkley, Parlor Press LLC, 2009, pp. v-vi,  267-292, Accessed 8 Sept.             2018.

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard, and Paul Lynch. “Rhetoric of Myth, Magic, and Conversion: A Prolegomena to Ancient           Irish Rhetoric.” Rhetoric Review, vol. 26, no. 3, 2007, pp. 233-252. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20176789?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents. Accessed 7 Sept. 2018.

Joyce, P W. A Social History of Ancient Ireland, vol. 1, Longmans, Green, And Co., 1903.

Lipson, Carol S., and Roberta A. Binkley, editors. Introduction. Rhetoric Before and Beyond The Greeks. State                  University of New York Press, 2004, pp. 1-24.pdf.

O’Faolain, Sean. The Irish A Character Study. The Devin-Adair Company, 1949, pp. i-102.

Procter, Margaret. “The Academic Proposal.” University of Toronto Writing Advice. University of Toronto,                         http://advice.writing.utoronto.ca. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.

“Research Proposal Template.” Template.net. Template.net, 2018, www.template.net. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.pdf.

Strandjord, Erika Claire. “Making, not Curating, the Rhetorical Tradition: Ways through and beyond the Canon.”               Rhetoric Review, vol.35, no. 4, 2016, pp. 281-293.pdf.