Course overview
Ignorance is commonly considered to be the opposite of knowledge and as hindering new or better ways of thinking. However, the process of generating new knowledge relies on the recognition of knowledge deficits: knowledge is always in productive tension with ignorance. But this relationship between ignorance and knowledge also means that ignorance can be mobilized—just as knowledge can be mobilized—for rhetorical and political purposes and goals. What is ‘knowledge’? What constitutes valid or invalid ‘information’? Who gets to decide, and how are those decisions made? This course investigates the rhetorical problem of how discourse communities produce and use information to build and justify claims of knowledge and ignorance.
The critical skills the course offers will provide you with tools to better evaluate the uses (and mis-uses) of information. When considering the political dynamics within which claims of valid and invalid knowledge can be wielded, we will consider questions of historical inequality and social hierarchy as they relate to the production, mobilisation, and evaluation of information. You will design, complete, and present a research project that analyzes and evaluates rhetorical patterns of knowledge-making and the (mis/dis/mal-) information dissemination practices of a specific discourse community of your own choosing, which might include, for example, the work of scholarly disciplines, political movements, civic organizations, and advocacy groups.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Identify and discuss basic theoretical foundations of knowledge production including:
- concepts such as rhetoric, discourse, knowledge, information, ignorance, and communication ethics, and
- common biases and patterns of thinking that interfere with the assessment and evaluation of information, including a capacity to recognize such biases and patterns in the rhetoric of discourse communities.
- Evaluate and assess information in/from different discourse communities and contexts, demonstrated as the ability to:
- identify the mobilisation of knowledge and ignorance in a variety of forms and genres,
- recognize and identify the rhetorical purposes and functions of mis/dis/mal/information dissemination in a variety of forms and genres (e.g. rhetorical framing, social construction of knowledge, data manipulation), and
- recognize and identify the interconnected character of discourse structures (e.g., of mis/dis/malinformation).
- Engage in the ethical production and mobilisation of information by:
- identifying, assessing, and distinguishing relevant and credible information practices from mis/dis/malinformation practices, and engaging in constructive, collaborative, and ethical practices of information and knowledge production (including peer review).