Discovering the Power of Rhetorical Citizenship

Part I: Definition
Rhetoric is best defined as the power of using persuasive communication effectively, through verbal,
nonverbal, and symbolic language to inform, influence and encourage others. I resonate with
Hausers views on the effects of rhetoric: Rhetoric is concerned with the use of symbols to induce
social action(3) because I also see what an enormous amount of power the art of rhetoric holds, and
how awesome it is that an individual has the ability of abetting civic action through compelling
discourse. Although, unlike Aristotle and the Sophists, I proposed a broader definition of rhetoric to
include a more progressive purpose than to just persuade. Instead of looking at rhetoric as the
faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion(online source) ; I would like
to include a broader purpose for rhetoric. I feel that rhetoric has morphed from its historical
characterization being the art of writing and orating speeches to persuade into encompassing any
effective means of communication that has meaningful influence on the audience, including but not
limited to: informing them on an issue or topic, persuading them to change their perspective, or
encouraging them to act (to vote, become more engaged, or whatever the enlightened rhetors goal
might be).

Another term that youll find is closely related to rhetoric is citizenship, which is the
state of being motivated by , educated on, and invested in the issues, values and
betterment of your community through civic engagement and informed action. As in
Wans example of political theorist Shklars argument, Shklar argues for moving
beyond the idea of citizenship as purely legal standing, defining it as nationality, as
active participation or good citizenship, and finally, ideal republican citizenship.
Substantiating this definition with my own perspective, I wholeheartedly agree with
Shklars argument. Although the term citizenship in the legal sense is seen as being a
member of your country (or nation-state), I see a more active role than what is legally
required of this membership. First and foremost, there needs to be genuine motivation
behind the citizenship.Whether the motivation is internal or external it is imperative
that it exists because it is the driving force behind the active, civically engaged citizen.
Rhetorical citizenship is the manner of being an informed, involved, and civically engaged member
of your community who persuades, informs and advocates their values,beliefs and reasoning
through written, spoken, or symbolic discourse. The connection between rhetorical and citizenship
is simply this: an integral part of being a civically engaged and responsible citizen entails practicing
the art of rhetoric; an individual that performs the before-mentioned qualities earns the title of
a rhetorical citizen. In this case,as a legal citizen, you are not only gifted the fundamental right of
free speech, you rely on it as a powerful resource enabling you, the rhetorical citizen to be civically
engaged through an activity such as meeting with others in your community to problemsolve. According to the sophists, engaging in discourse is an effective way of problem solving. A
commanding factor in that equation is that of a successful rhetorical response, the criteria of which is
described by Hauser as , Ultimately for a fitting response to be a successful one it needs to intersect
with the values, ethics, and personal commitments of both rhetor and audience. This is the mark of

responsible rhetoric (60). Being informed on the topic youre speaking about, both as a rhetor and
citizen, is also part of being responsible. Utilizing rhetoric correctly can help influence others to
become involved and engaged in the common goal of bettering the community. The more fellow
citizens you persuade to become civically engaged, the higher the probability is that your community
will benefit from this involvement. To be a model rhetorical citizen, actions are required to uphold
your words; enabling others to get involved are part of these actions. How do you persuade others to
become civically engaged? Through rhetorical discussion, and this brings our two terms full-circle.
The relationship between rhetoric and citizenship is reciprocal: rhetoric is a power that is utilized by
the civically engaged citizen.
Part II: Sponsorship
Many educational sponsors have supported me on my journey of attaining rhetorical
citizenship; but two in particular are most memorable: my mother and my higher education.
I dont know many women whose mothers dont play an important role in their life and development,
but Im skeptical that these mothers were as civically engaged as mine. Since I can remember my
mother has held an active role in our community. She was the reason I completed my first act of
community service when I was around seven years old for an organization known as Meals On
Wheels. The purpose of this non-profit was to deliver hot, fresh, home-cooked meals to the homes of
the elderly residents in our area who were unable to acquire these commodities otherwise. Every
week for two years my mother, sister, and I(along with a cart of warm dinner trays) would pile into
my moms mini-van and the spend the afternoon driving around our town delivering meals on
wheels. As a young child I didnt fully comprehend why we were giving up our weekend (valuable
cartoon- watching time!) to help these strangers. Being a curious young girl I asked my mother,
Why do we do this? To which her quick response was, You cant just take take take! You have to
give back to your community too!Which I now realize was my first taste of being a contributing and
engaged citizen. I was satisfied with her logical answer and we continued on our community service
mission until we moved to a different area.
My mother has also instilled in me the power of rhetoric. My mother and I both share a passion for
writing. She has always encouraged me to voice my values, opinions, and beliefs using the written
word as a creative outlet. I first took advantage of her advice when I was in eighth grade. For most of
my middle school years the writing FCAT was an important objective of my English courses and
being a creative writer I was becoming quite irritated with the redundant, test-orientated curriculum.
Every year the students were administered a practice FCAT essay to prepare , and when I opened my
testing booklet (detailing same type of topic Id been writing on for years)I was struck with a surge of
dissatisfaction and felt it was my duty to voice these concerns. I continued to write a rhetorical
(which I then understood to be simply persuasive) essay on the endangered state of passionate,
creative writing in the Florida education system due to the evil of standardized tests. After my paper
was read I was accompanied to a terrifying meeting with the principal, who could not understand
why I wouldnt want to write an essay on my ideal field trip; I was told that my paper was amazingly
well written [for my age] and would have received a six ( a perfect score) if I had written on topic.

Expecting my mother to be severely disappointed in me, the opposite was true. She supported my
actions and continued to tell me how proud she was that her daughter had stood up the man! and
that I had perfectly articulated opinion via persuasive writing. I had exercised a very important
aspect of being a rhetorical citizen: being civically engaged and speaking rhetorically about the issues
at hand in our community (standardized test-driven curriculum). And she wasnt done there. She
sent my essay into our local newspaper as a Letter to the Editor piece and within a few days she
received a call from The Stuart News fact-checker calling to ensure that a thirteen year old was
indeed the author. My letter was published a few days later after which she laminated a copy of and
displayed it prominently on our fridge as an encouragement, while constantly advising me to never
stop attempting to persuade and inform others through the art of rhetoric.
My mother has also sponsored my rhetorical citizenship through her own civic engagement. Every
election year she turns our tall and narrow tower of a house into her own political billboard. Many of
her good friends hold offices in our local government ,possibly also due , in part, to her fierce
avocational skills. Our living room , at often times, doubled as a rhetorical stage where she and her
friends or neighbors would gather to engage in politically-charged discourse. By the time I was in
high school, I found myself wearing campaign shirts to school and using my political voice to
engage in wholehearted rhetorical discussion with fellow students in between classes and at the
lunchroom table. She continued to sponsor my civic education and by the time my senior year came
around I couldnt wait to turn eighteen so I could finally take the reigns and cast my ballot.
Higher education has also sponsored my rhetorical citizenship. Unmotivated by the current affairs of
my public high school I transferred to an alternative, technologically advanced charter school. This
new curriculum offered full-time college classes, a challenge I skeptically accepted. The previous
piles of busy work from my former school had been replaced with interesting and thoughtprovoking classes such as Creative Thinking, Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy and Student Success.
I would like to focus on my humanities class Creative Thinking for a moment. It was this class that
first introduced me to analytical thinking and the Aristotelian Appeals. Accustomed to censored and
immature class conversations I was shocked and relieved by the blunt honesty we were encouraged
to speak with during our deep class discussions. The topics were equally scandalous: abortion, right
to bear arms,republican versus democrat, and physician-assisted suicide, to name a few. I was
instantly inspired and quickly discovered my rhetorical voice. Our final assignment was to write an
argument-based academic paper, taking a for or against stance on a controversial issue, of which we
then had to present to our class and argue against their rebuttals. If these educational courses were
not sponsorship enough, a graduation requirement was to complete an internship, service-learning
assignment during our senior year. I interned at the local Chamber of Commerce , an organization
that is extremely involved in hosting public events within the community. I felt that my higher
education helped me to mature, both as a person and a rhetorical citizen. These classes instilled an
information-seeking motivation within me, causing me to finish my senior year of high school with
63 college credits (an AA degree), and ending the year with a 4.0. Not only did my high school

education enable my rhetorical citizenship it helped me evolve into an opinionated, information

seeking and civically engaged rhetorical citizen.

Sources
Aristotle. Rhetoric. (trans. W. Rhys Roberts). I:4:1359
Hauser, Gerald. Introduction to Rhetorical Theory. (pdf)
Wan, Amy. In the Name of Citizenship: The Writing Classroom and the Promise of Citizenship(pdf)