In class we discussed the artifact briefly and agreed that a civic artifact is a human made thing or phenomenon that frames the civic in a rhetorically compelling way. That being said I’m still not sure what exactly that definition means. Must I choose a famous speech or historical thing? It was said in class that the artifact doesn’t have to be a historical thing but what modern thing or idea “frames the civic in a rhetorically compelling way” ?
I have several ideas for what the artifact can be but i’m just not sure what the correct choice would be to have a successful speech. Currently I’m thinking about maybe doing the Texas flag or the American flag as both carry a bunch of history and the questions that we asked in group work (who made the artifact? How has this thing changed over time, etc.) would and could be answered well.
My other idea was maybe to take the “We are Penn state” chant and talk about that. I think it would be a unique take on the assignment however I don’t know if this would count as an artifact or not. I believe it would because the mentioned questions from group work could be answered. This chant also I think frames our civic in a very compelling way. It is widely known around campus and has a very compelling back story to it.
I guess my final idea would be to do a speech such as, M.L.K’s I have a dream speech. This was not only a massive historical speech (thing) it also sparked and stood for the Equality cause (phenomenon). With this I could almost relate it to the Black lives matter movement which happened to be my group’s civic artifact. The only problem with this topic is that I would need to be cautious in what I say and how I present in order to be respectful and professional about this topic.
I’m not sure exactly which one to do but currently I am leaning towards either the “we are” chant or the “I have a dream” speech.
I also had some trouble understanding exactly what a civic artifact is. However, I think every one of the examples you talked about could be considered civic artifacts. What it will come down to is just picking the one you are most passionate about and interests you the most. I really like the idea of the “we are” chant because I think you could take it many different ways. The civic function of the chant is not as explicit as the function of the “I have a dream” speech, so I think it would be interesting to see your thoughts on how it functions as a civic artifact. That said, the “I have a dream” speech, although being over 50 years old, is relevant today, especially with the Black Lives Matter movement. You could definitely talk about the Kairos of this artifact in both the speech and the movement. I don’t believe you could go wrong with choosing any of these artifacts, so my advice would be to just pick the one that catches your interest.