Workshop Leaders
Pamela Conners, Gustavus Adolphus College
Sara Mehltretter Drury, Wabash College
Theories of democratic deliberation must be refined by practice. The questions that guide public deliberation are fundamentally rhetorical: How is the community issue or need defined? How is the question for deliberation framed? How can discourse be more inclusive of different perspectives? What may preclude some from discursive engagement? Rhetorical scholars are well-equipped and needed to enhance civic communication as it is learned in the classroom and as it informs public decision-making. Moreover, scholars of rhetoric may find their research enhanced and advanced by developing and testing deliberative processes that fit different needs and contexts.
In the workshop, we will explore the benefits and tradeoffs of bringing deliberation theory to practice in the classroom and community, and opportunities for pedagogical and rhetorical research. Participants in this workshop will consider ways that rhetorical scholars have and could integrate deliberative pedagogy in curricula and research deliberative processes in public spaces. The workshop will also explore practical considerations, such as collaborating with institutional/community partners, navigating administrative barriers, writing grants, and submitting IRB proposals.
To prepare for the workshop, participants will read several essays about deliberation theory and deliberative pedagogy. Participants will be asked to share a short statement of their interest in deliberation in the classroom and community, with an articulated research question and/or anticipated course or project for praxis. Graduate students and early career faculty who are thinking about how they might integrate deliberative pedagogy in classrooms or in the community are especially welcome.
Note: This workshop has limited space for remote participation.
Pamela Conners is Associate Professor of Communication Studies and the Director of Public Deliberation & Dialogue at Gustavus Adolphus College. Her research examines public policy rhetoric and deliberative processes, with a particular focus on civic identity and place. She has published in journals such as Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Argumentation & Advocacy, Communication Center Journal, Western Journal of Communication (forthcoming). Her deliberation research and praxis on campus and in the community has been externally funded by the Minnesota Humanities Center and the Council of Independent Colleges. She is currently collaborating with Sara Mehltretter Drury and others on a project examining deliberative pedagogy in chemistry classrooms, funded by the National Science Foundation’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative.
Sara A. Mehltretter Drury is currently serving as Executive Vice President of Deliberation at Unify America. She is also an Associate Professor of Rhetoric at Wabash College, and the founding director of Wabash Democracy & Public Discourse. Her research on deliberation and deliberative pedagogy has been published in Journal of Public Deliberation, Rhetorics of Health & Medicine, Journal of Communication Pedagogy, Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and Journal of Chemical Education. She has been an Indiana Humanities Action Fellow and a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, and her work has been supported by Indiana Humanities and the National Science Foundation.