Rhetoric, Writing, and Public Discourse 325: Rhetorics of Health and Medicine

This course introduces students to key themes within the rhetorics of health and medicine—a field of inquiry that examines how language and persuasion shape our understandings of health and illness. Topics will include the role of metaphor, narrative and genre in medical discourse, the rhetorical dynamics of medical controversies, the persuasive strategies utilized in public health messaging, the cultural significance of mediated representations of health and illness, and the relationship between identity and illness. Course assignments will invite students to identify the rhetorical dimensions of health discourses, to consider how the cultural meanings of health are rhetorically constructed and contested, and to evaluate the rhetorical strategies employed by patients, advocates, and health professionals across a range of communication contexts.