rhetoric final analytical paper

8/2/2019 Rhetoric Final Analytical Paper

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Danielle Miller

Rhetorical Citizenship for Today and Tomorrow

Defining and Phasing Civic Engagement

I would like to define civic engagement as working together to promote the well-being of

our communities, through both political and non-political processes. In Caryn Musils

Educating for Citizenship, we learned about the different phases of being civically engaged.

The phases range from exclusionary (community is only your own), to charitable (community is

a resource that needs our help), and to the most well-rounded phase of engagement, generative. I

would like to focus on the generative phase, because that is what we should be striving for.

A Generatively Phased Community

Musils generative phase describes a community that is an interdependent resource filled

with possibilities. We need to break that description down. What is an interdependent resource?

Think of a community as an interdependent unit, we all depend on one another, the environment,

and the government. Without any of these, the community would cease to exist. By

acknowledging we need each of these things to be successful, we can begin to find our way in

civic engagement. This is where rhetoric comes into play. After reading the writings of Leslie

Silko and learning about the Pueblo Indian culture, I began to understand the relationship

between civic engagement and rhetoric.

Rhetoric and the Pueblo Indian Culture


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Silko writes that in her culture, telling stories was crucial to the feeling of community. By

telling stories of the past, the people who were part of her tribe felt like part of the land, the

community, and of the tribe. Her people were able to identify with one another based on a shared

history. This is something we see in modern Western culture as well. Think of your hometown;

the people, the history, common customs. These are all shared senses of identity that can be

found in stories and writings. I believe rhetoric is just a way to communicate that persuades,

informs, inspires, or entertains. Being in a school of 60,000 I am always thrilled to see someone

from my hometown of Plant City. I dont even have to know the person that well to have

something to talk about. We are bonded because of our relationships to our community. We can

talk strawberries, high school rivalries and football teams, the terrible local movie theater, and

possibly even shared acquaintances. Someone who can understand where I come from and to

where I identify will have a much easier time talking to me. This relates to civic engagement

because I think civic engagement is fueled by community connection and identity.

The Pueblo Indians had it right. They could identify with their community because they

shared a love of their ancestors, fellow citizens, land, and home. When we can identify with a

community, we are more willing to put in the effort to promote the well-being of that

community. That is when we can put Musils findings into play. In the generative phase that Ive

already described, there are different levels of knowledge needed to benefit the citizens in our

communities now and in the future. Although Musil discussed many of these, the two I am going

to focus on are multiple interactive vantage points and intercultural competencies (Musil, 15).

The individuals who make up a community essentially need to understand one another, each

others feelings, and different points of view to create a sense of citizenship.

Florida as an Example of a Society Lacking Understanding, and Therefore Engagement


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Danielle Miller

When Musils different knowledges are not part of a community, the community lacks

unity, and therefore lacks civic engagement. In class, we have spoken on numerous occasions on

the reasons that Florida ranks so low when looking at civic engagement. As a state, Florida

ranked 34th in average voter turnout, 49th in the percentage of its citizens who volunteered, 48th

in the percentage of its citizens who attended a public meeting, and 37th in the percentage of its

citizens who worked with others to address a community issue (Health). This is terrible, but it

just reinforces my point that we must be able to understand one another. In class, we came to the

conclusion that Florida is ranked so poorly and is so deprived of civic engagement because of the

many differences among our citizens. We have a large population of the elderly with whom the

younger population struggle to identify. We are the poster child for swing states in national

elections, that enough puts us behind in the civic race when we are compared to states that are

united like California and Texas. We also have a large Hispanic population that is not as evident

in other states. Many dont speak English, and all have cultures very different to many who are

native to this state and this country.

How UCF Displays the Qualities of a Civically Engaged Community Through Rhetoric

UCF is also its own community. As Ive stated before, its a hard one to identify with. I

came from a small town where we share everything and know everyone. Leaving a place like

that and coming to a school with so many people can be overwhelming, and for me its been easy

to get lost in the crowd. I have a much harder time identifying with UCF and my fellow students,

because Im having a hard time seeing this as home. I feel that is the number one hurdle for civic

engagement at UCF. However, rhetorical strategy may be what saves us. Refer back to my

definition of rhetoric, how it is communication that persuades, inspires, informs, or entertains.

This communication is what pushes us into a sense of community. When you hear the UCF chant


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Danielle Miller

at football or basketball games with students all singing along and doing the motions, it is

impossible to not feel pride and support for the UCF community. This inspires us. At orientation

every year there are people waiting to inform incoming students of how great UCF is and to

persuade them to get involved. We have our very own UCF newspaper. Much like a local

newspaper in a town, reading about our fellow students is one other way rhetoric is used to create

community, by entertaining. So rhetoric, as storytelling and shared language, brings people

together.

After participating in the class mapping assignment, I was very happy to see ways in

which UCF students are coming together and creating a community by becoming civically

engaged. My group researched the Arboretum and the Knights Helping Knights food pantry.

These were really solid examples of civic engagement on campus. People who were volunteering

at the Arboretum shared a common goal of helping give back to the land, specifically to the land

surrounding our university. These students are becoming civically engaged in the same way that

Silkos tribe of Pueblo Indians did, by giving back to the land they shared and depended on. This

act of civic engagement also correlates with Musils phases of citizenship because planting and

nurturing trees, flowers, and plants benefits everyone in the present and in the future (Musil, 15).

It also supports her claim that a generative community is an interdependent resource filled with

possibilities. Again, we are dependent on the environment and it on us. If we take care of the

land, it will benefit us now and for generations to come.

In the Knights Helping Knights Food pantry, there were also some things that appeared to

be part of Musils generative community. Interconnectedness was apparent in the idea that

people were working together to benefit those in the community who needed help, in order to

make the entire community stronger. This is what moves a civically engaged foundation from a


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charitable phase to a generative one. The manager of the food pantry, Bella Craig, did not act as

though the students who needed assistance were outside the norm, but rather included them in

her vision of community, saying were all Knights. She was not there to make herself feel

good, but to better her entire community by doing what she found to be accessible.

My Future Engagement

All in all, I find that civic engagement for me means bettering our entire community

through many processes that are not limited to being politically active. Young generations are

said to not vote because we arent active, but after this semester, Ive learned that we are the ones

making change and moving out of our comfort zones for the good of the community. I now feel

inspired and empowered to try and accept this new community as my home, and to treat it as

such. I was overly engaged in Plant City, Florida, and Im finally ready to transplant that kind of

engagement to my campus and my home. I think I will probably start just by trying to get more

socially involved with my fellow students, because as I said before, we must understand our

community and its citizens in order to be involved. Id also like to find a Special Olympics team

around this area so I can continue to be involved with the organization that I love. The

relationships I create here with the school, teachers, students, and outside community are crucial

to being engaged here, and I think this class put me on the right track to do so.


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Works Cited

"Florida Civic Health Index 2009."NCOC.com. The National Conference on Citizenship. Web.

Musil, Caryn M. "Peer Review, Spring 2003." Peer Review, Spring 2003. Web. 18 Apr. 2012.

.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. "Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian." Yellow Woman and a Beauty of

the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Print.

rhetoric final analytical paper

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