The Impromptu Theater in Context: Location, Power, and the Integrity of Community Life
Tenor of the Discourse: Edgy and Competitive, Curbed by Play
Rhetorical Invention: Practice, Modeling, and Feedback
5 The Cultural Womb and the Garden: Local Publics That Depend on Institutions to Sponsor Them
A Cultural Womb: The Local Public in Brandt’s Literacy in American Lives
Distinctive Features: Nurtures and Prepares
The Cultural Womb in Context: Location and Cultural Agency
Tenor of the Discourse: Resourceful
Interpretative Literacies
Rhetorical Invention: Inspiration, Instruction, and Transformation
Implications
A Garden: The Local Public in Heller’s Until We Are Strong Together
Distinctive Features: Nurtures and Prepares
The Garden in Context: Location, Agency, and Maturation
Tenor of the Discourse: Literary Uplift
Belletristic Literacies
Rhetorical Invention: Precision at the Point of Utterance
Implications
6 The Link and Gate: Local Publics That Intersect with Public Institutions
A Link: The Local Public Sphere in Barton and Hamilton’s Local Literacies
Distinctive Features: Linking Networks Across Domains
The Link in Context: Location, Bottom-Up Initiative, and Agency
Tenor of the Discourse: Hybrid—a Mix of the Formal and the Everyday
Mobilizing Literacies
Rhetorical Invention: Adapting and Retooling
Implications
A Gate along a Fenceline: The Local Public in Cushman’s The Struggle and the Tools
Distinctive Features: Access, Space, and Conflict
The Gate in Context: Location and Linguistic Agency
Tenor of the Discourse: Dueling Dualities
Institutional Literacies
Rhetorical Invention: Evaluating Acquired Literacies
Transferred to New Contexts
Implications
A Community-Organizing Effort: The Local Public in Goldblatt’s “Alinsky’s Reveille: A Community-Organizing Model for Neighborhood-Based Literacy Projects”
Distinctive Features: Complexity and Pleasure
The Community-Organizing Effort in Context: Location and Legacy
Tenor of the Discourse: Bite Tempered by Sweetness
Consensus-Building Literacies
Rhetorical Invention: Transforming Problems into Issues for Action
Implications
The Community Think Tank: The Local Public Sphere in Flower’s “Intercultural Knowledge Building: The Literate Action of a Community Think Tank”
Distinctive Features: Diversity, Conflict, and Tools
The Community Think Tank in Context: Location and Legacy
Tenor of the Discourse: Prophetic—Principled and Inventive
Design and Inquiry-Driven Literacies
Rhetorical Invention: The Construction of Negotiated Meaning
Implications
8 The Shadow System: A Local Public that Defies Formal Institutions
Distinctive Features: Mimics and Shelters Difference
The Shadow System in Context: Location and Cultural Imaginary
Tenor the Discourse: Threatening and Hyperbolic
Tactical Literacies
Rhetorical Invention: Cultural Appropriation
Implications
Overview
Interpretative Pedagogies
Institutional Pedagogies
Tactical Pedagogies
Inquiry-Driven Pedagogies
Materialist Rhetoric: Realizing Practical Outcomes through Consensus
Intercultural Inquiry: Restructuring Deliberative Dialogues around Difference
Performative Pedagogies
Conclusion
Preface
Charles Bazerman
Rhetoric, as a discipline, was born in the world to serve worldly needs. Typically these were the needs of power, exercised by the powerful—in court, parliament, political office, and the pulpit. The powerful could afford to pay rhetoricians for advice and to speak on their behalf. The wealthy could hire