Pop Goes the Comp Class: Music as Rhetoric in the First-year Writing Course
Open Access
Author:
De Prospo, Nathan Murphy
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Debra Hawhee, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Xiaoye You, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Rhetoric Rhetoric and Composition Composition Theory Composition Pedagogy First-Year Writing Music Multimodality
Abstract:
This thesis explores the use of popular music as rhetoric in the first-year composition class. I investigate the emotional and scientific elements of music and sound, as well as the best-known forms of rhetoric and composition pedagogy theory, including: cognitivism, current traditional rhetoric (CTR), and post-structuralism. In order to demonstrate the application of these theories, I present a rhetorical analysis of the rapper Future. Finally, in making my case for using music in the composition class, I discuss the socio-political implications of hip-hop’s role in popular music.
