RHETORICS OF

SCIENCE +
MEDICINE
ENGLISH 7879 | CHRISTA TESTON

Fall 2016
Wed 12:40-3:40 pm
419 Denney Hall

Seminar Description
Classical and contemporary rhetorical theory offer a set of unique
affordances for the study of scientific and medical practiceincluding, to
name only a few: Methods for theorizing the role of matter, movement, and
time when assessing risk and making plans for future action; a wide range of
heuristics for analyzing how deliberative decision-making unfolds; and key
constructs for attuning to how power, place, and precarity intersects with
disease, disaster, and disability.

Contact Info

In this course, therefore, we will mobilize rhetorical theory as an

instrument capable of performing...intricate analysis (Fahnestock & Secor,
1988, p. 427) not just to traverse well-worn paths of critique (Alaimo &
Hekman, 2008, p. 4), but also to develop a working definition for an ethic of
care: An ethic of care that is responsive to human fragility and vulnerability
amidst
constantly
changing
cellular,
sociopolitical,
economic,
environmental, and technoscientific phenomena.

Course Meeting

Christa Teston
506 Denney Hall
teston.2@osu.edu

Office Hours
Wednesdays 10-12
& by appointment

Learning Objectives
I hope that by December you will have
improved your writing and practiced generous (i.e. generative) reading,
widened your repertoire in rhetorical theory,
gained facility with mobilizing rhetorical theory for the purpose of
analysis,
begun to imagine what sustainable scholarship in rhetorical studies looks
like, and
practiced composing in genres common to our field (e.g. conference
proposals; analytic frameworks; article manuscripts).
Required Books
Ceccarelli, L. (2013). On the Frontier of Science: An American Rhetoric of
Exploration and Exploitation.
Fountain, T.K. (2014) Rhetoric in the Flesh.
Montoya, M. (2011). Making the Mexican Diabetic.
Segal, J. (2005). Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine.
Tsing, A.L. (2015). The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of
Life in Capitalist Ruins.
Required Technologies
Google Drive account.

Course Policies
On Revision. Dont feel crestfallen when I ask you to revise. I adhere to writing research that
suggests that final drafts are still merely drafts and that our best writing comes from multiple and
iterative revisions. Accept that this is a part of our course (and your life).
Additional Needs. The University strives to make all learning experiences as accessible as possible.
If you anticipate or experience academic barriers based on your disability (including mental health,
chronic or temporary medical conditions), please let me know immediately so that we can privately
discuss options. You are also welcome to register with Student Life Disability Services to establish
reasonable accommodations. After registration, make arrangements with me as soon as possible to
discuss your accommodations so that they may be implemented in a timely fashion. SLDS contact
information: slds@osu.edu; 614-292-3307; slds.osu.edu; 098 Baker Hall, 113 W. 12th Avenue.
Contact Information
Disability Services
614-292-3307
slds@osu.edu
Attendance. I expect you to be in class every day we meet, and to arrive prepared and on time.
Missing class will negatively affect your grade.
Class Cancelations. In the unlikely event of class cancelation due to emergency, I will request a
note be placed on our classrooms door and I will email you. Following the cancelation, I will
contact you via email as soon as possible to let you know what will be expected of you for our next
class meeting.
Academic Misconduct. It is the responsibility of the Committee on Academic Misconduct to
investigate or establish procedures for the investigation of all reported cases of student academic
misconduct. The term academic misconduct includes all forms of student academic misconduct
wherever committed; illustrated by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in
connection with examinations. Instructors shall report all instances of alleged academic misconduct
to the committee (Faculty Rule 3335-5-487). For additional information, see the Code of Student
Conduct (http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/info_for_students/csc.asp).

Deliverables* & Deadlines

Deliverables

Deadline

Discussion Leader (x4) | 20% of grade

Share at least 3 questions per reading for class
discussion (by midnight on the Sunday before our
class meeting).
Finalize a 1-2 page prcis for each reading (by
midnight on the Sunday after our class meeting).
Construct Papers (x3) | 10% of grade
Choose a construct introduced or developed by one
of the authors weve read in the previous four weeks
(e.g. care; trans-corporeality)
Compose a 500-word description of the construct,
how it is mobilized by one or more authors, and
what rhetorical work it accomplishes.
RHM Meta-Analysis Project (Collaborative) | 20% of grade
As a class we will conduct a meta-analysis of the
field of rhetoric of health and medicine by
conducting a systematic review of scholarship in the
field over the last decade.
Rhetorical Analysis Project (Individual) | 50% of grade
Propose (in the genre of a conference proposal) a
rhetorical analysis of some scientific or medical
object of study (150 words).
Draft and peer review one anothers analytic
framework and method (1000 words).
Draft and peer review one anothers full rhetorical
analysis (7000 words).

Students choices:
1. _________
2. _________
3. _________
4. _________
Construct paper #1 9/14
Construct paper #2 10/12
Construct paper #3 11/9

Ongoing

Proposal: 9/28
Analytic Framework: 11/2
Full Analysis: 12/12

*S/U Students may choose from one of two course plans,

Plan 1: Responsible for Leading Discussion, Construct Papers, and RHM MetaAnalysis Project (not responsible for Rhetorical Analysis Project)
Plan 2: Responsible for Rhetorical Analysis Project (not responsible for Leading
Discussion; Construct Papers; and RHM Meta-Analysis Project)

Class Plan
Rationale. It is tempting to design this course as a survey of relevant scholarship in
medicine and science studies. However, because the course is a rhetoric seminar, Ive chosen
to centralize rhetorical theory by ensuring each week we have readings from scholars whose
work aligns explicitly with rhetorical studies in some way. In almost all cases, their objects
of study are science or medicine. This body of scholarship should provide us with a
common disciplinary language from which to work throughout the semester.
However, because it is still a relatively new field, rhetorical scholarship in science and
(especially) medicine has a lot of gaps. In order to attend more explicitly and responsibly to
the intersectional conditions that bear up and make possible contemporary biomedical
practice, Ive also included what I see as really important scholarship that exists outside the
boundaries of rhetorical studies (e.g. science and technology studies; race and ethnic studies;
womens studies; medicine; anthropology; philosophy; history; queer theory; native studies;
law).
Reading Schedule. Subject to change; DL=discussion leader.
AUGUST 24. ONTOLOGIES + EPISTEMOLOGIES
Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Barnett & Boyle (2016) Rhetoric Through
Everyday Things intro.
Hartelius (2009) Sustainable Scholarship
and the Rhetoric of Medicine
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Andrews (2015) Black Feminisms
Minor Empiricism: Hurston,
Combahee, and the Experience of
Evidence
Barad (1998) Getting Real:
Technoscientific Practices and the
Materialization of Reality
DL:

AUGUST 31. MULTIPLICITY

Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Graham & Herndl (2013) Multiple
Ontologies in Pain Management Toward
a Postplural Rhetoric of Science
Barton (2001) Design in Observational
Research on the Discourse of Medicine:
Toward Disciplined Interdisciplinarity
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Harding (1986) The Science Question
in Feminism
Haraway (1988) Situated
Knowledges: The Science Question in
Feminism and Privilege of Partial
Perspective
DL:

Class Plan (contd)

SEPTEMBER 7. BODIES
Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Dolmage (2009) Metis, Mtis, Mestiza,
Medusa: Rhetorical Bodies across
Rhetorical Traditions.
Lynch (2009) Stem Cells and the
Embryo: Biorhetoric and Scientism in
Congressional Debate
DL:

SEPTEMBER 14. RHETORIC OF/AS

CONSTRUCT PAPER #1 DUE
Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Segal (2005) Health and the Rhetoric of
Medicine (Intro, Chapters 1, 2, 4,
Conclusion)
Lyne (2001) Contours of Intervention:
How Rhetoric Matters to Biomedicine
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Murphy (2011) Corporeal
Vulnerability and New Humanism
Alaimo (2008) Trans-Corporeal
Feminisms and the Ethical Space of
Nature
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Greenhalgh & Russell (2006)
Reframing Evidence Synthesis as
Rhetorical Action in the Policy
Making Drama
DL:

SEPTEMBER 21. RISK

Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Ding (2009) Rhetorics of Alternative
Media in an Emerging Epidemic: SARS,
Censorship, and Extra-Institutional Risk
Communication
Scott (2002) The Public Policy Debate
over Newborn HIV Testing: A Case
Study of the Knowledge Enthymeme.
DL:

SEPTEMBER 28. DIFFERENCE

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS PROPOSAL DUE
Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Chvez (2015) Beyond Inclusion:
Rethinking Rhetorics Historical
Narrative
Lynch (2009) Articulating Scientific
Practice: Understanding Dean Hamers
Gay Gene Study as Overlapping
Material, Social and Rhetorical Registers
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Squier (2008) The Sky is Falling:
Risk, Safety, and the Avian Flu
Mustafa (2011) Pinning Down
Vulnerability: From Narratives to
Numbers
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Puar (2007) Terrorist Assemblages intro,
ch. 1, conclusion
DL:

Class Plan (contd)

OCTOBER 5. DISABILITY
Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Johnson (2010) Skeleton on the Couch:
The Eagleton Affair, Rhetorical
Disability, and the Stigma of Mental
Illness
Hensley-Owens (2009) Writing
With(out) Pain: Computing Injuries and
the Role of the Body in Writing Activity
DL:

OCTOBER 12. DEATH

CONSTRUCT PAPER #2 DUE
Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Segal (2005) Health and the Rhetoric of
Medicine, ch. 5
Barton & Marback (2008) The Rhetoric
of Hope in the Genre of Prognosis
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Foucault Abnormal: Lectures at the
Collge de France, 1974-1975, pp. 1-54
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Berlant (2011) Cruel Optimism, ch. 3
Mbembe (2003) Necropolitics
DL:

OCTOBER 19. GENES AND RACE

Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Happe (2013) The Body of Race:
Toward a Rhetorical Understanding of
Racial Ideology
Condit (2008) Race and Genetics from a
Modal Materialist Perspective
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Montoya (2011) Making the Mexican
Diabetic
DL:

OCTOBER 26. CELLULAR BODIES

Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Jensen (2015) Improving Upon Nature:
The Rhetorical Ecology of Chemical
Language, Reproductive Endocrinology,
and the Medicalization of Infertility
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Brown (2015) Being Cellular: Race,
the Inhuman, and the Plasticity of
Life
TallBear (2013) Genomic
Articulations of Indigeneity
DL:

Class Plan (contd)

NOVEMBER 2. EXPERTISE
ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK DUE
Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Fountain (2014) Rhetoric in the Flesh
Condit, Lynch, and Winderman (2012)
Recent Rhetorical Studies in Public
Understanding of Science: Multiple
Purposes and Strengths
DL:

NOVEMBER 9. EXPLOITATION
CONSTRUCT PAPER #3 DUE
Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Ceccarelli (2013) Intro, Chs. 1, 4, 5,
Conclusion
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Hikins & Cherwitz (2011) On the
Ontological and Epistemological
Dimensions of Expertise: Why
Reality and Truth Matter and How
We Might Find Them
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Willey (2016)
Selections from Washingtons (2008)
Medical Apartheid
DL:

NOVEMBER 16. FRAGILITY

Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Marback (2010) A Meditation on
Vulnerability in Rhetoric
Holloway (2016) Their Bodies, Our
Conduct: How Society and Medicine
Produce Persons Standing in need of Endof-Life Care
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Jasanoff (2003) Technologies of
Humility: Citizen Participation in
Governing Science
Braidotti (2014) Writing as a
Nomadic Subject
Ehlers (2014) The Dialectics of
Vulnerability: Breast Cancer and the
Body in Prognosis
DL:

NOVEMBER 30. CARE

Rhetorical Studies Scholarship
Teston (2017) Bodies in Flux selections
TBD
DL:

Extra-Disciplinary Scholarship
Mol, Moser, and Pol (2010) Care:
Putting Practice into Theory in Mol
et al.s Care in Practice
Winance (2010) Care and Disability
in Mol et al.s Care in Practice
DL:

DECEMBER 7. DISASTER
Tsing (2015) Mushroom at the End of the World
DL: Christa

Recommended Reading
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway.
Berg, M. 1998. Differences in Medicine: Unraveling Practices, Techniques, and Bodies. Durham, N.C.:
Duke University Press.
Bowker, G., and S. L. Star. 1999. Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press.
Callon, M., P. Lascoumes, and Y. Barthe. 2009. Acting in an Uncertain World: An Essay on Technical
Democracy. Translated by G. Burchell. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Cartright, L. 1995. Screening the Body: Tracing Medicines Visual Culture. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press.
Ceccarelli, L. 2001. Shaping Science with Rhetoric: The Cases of Dobzhansky, Schrodinger, and Wilson.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Collins, H., and T. Pinch. 2008. Dr. Golem: How to Think about Medicine. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Derkatch, C. 2016. Bounding Biomedicine: Evidence and Rhetoric in the New Science of Alternative
Medicine. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Fleck, L. (1979). Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact.
Garcia, A. 2010. The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession along the Rio Grande. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press.
Gieryn, T. F. 1999. Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line. Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press.
Grosz, E. 1994. Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University
Press.
Harding, S. 2006. Science and Social Inequality: Feminist and Postcolonial Issues. Urbana-Champaign, IL:
University of Illinois Press.
Knorr Cetina, K. 2009. Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Latour, B. & Woolgar, S. (1986). Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts.
Mol, A. 2002. The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Mol, A., I. Moser, and J. Pols. 2010. Care in Practice: On Tinkering in Clinics, Homes and Farms.
Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
Parthasarathy, S. 2012. Building Genetic Medicine: Breast Cancer, Technology, and the Comparative Politics
of Health Care. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Porter, T. M. 1996. Trust in Numbers: the Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
Prelli, L. J. 1989. A Rhetoric of Science: Inventing Scientific Discourse. Columbia, SC: University of
South Carolina Press.
Prentice, R. 2012. Bodies in Formation: An Ethnography of Anatomy and Surgery Education. Durham,
NC: Duke University Press.
TallBear, K. 2013. Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science.
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Teston, C. 2016. Rendering and reifying brain sex science. In S. Barnett & C. Boyle (Eds.), Rhetoric,
Through Everyday Things (42-54). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.
Teston, C. 2016. Rhetoric, precarity, and mHealth technologies. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 46(3), 251268.
Teston, C., Graham, S.S., Baldwinson, R., Li, A. & Swift, J. 2014. Definitional multiplicity:
Negotiating clinical benefit in the FDAs Avastin hearing. Journal of Medical Humanities, 35,
149-170.
Teston, C. & Graham, S.S. 2012. Stasis theory and meaningful public participation in
pharmaceutical policy-making. Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric and Society, 2(2), 1-8.
Teston, C. 2012. Considering confidentiality in research design: Developing heuristics to chart the
un-chartable. In P. Takayoshi & K. Powell (Eds.) Practicing Research in Writing Studies:
Reflections on Ethically Responsible Research (303-326). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Teston, C. 2012. Moving from artifact to action: A grounded investigation of visual displays of
evidence during medical deliberations. Technical Communication Quarterly, 21, 187-209.
Walsh, L. 2013. Scientists as Prophets: A Rhetorical Genealogy. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press.