Page 182 - Šolsko polje, XXX, 2019, št. 5-6: Civic, citizenship and rhetorical education in a rapidly changing world, eds. Janja Žmavc and Plamen Mirazchiyski
P. 182
šolsko polje, letnik xxx, številka 5–6
Minnix, Christopher, Rhetoric and the Global Turn in Higher
Education. San Jose: Palgrave Macimillan, 2018.
An extensive study of the role of rhetorical education within global high-
er education in the USA (225 pages), in dialogue with a wide range of com-
plementary theory and research (over 230 bibliographical units), Rhetoric
and the Global Turn in Higher Education is a comprehensive monograph
built upon an appreciation of a strong bond between rhetorical education
and power relations. Between the five-page preface and seven-page in-
dex there are six chapters, with titles that disclose much about the book’s
scope and general orientation:
1. Rhetorical Education and Global Higher Education in an Age of
Precarity
2. Global Higher Education and the Production of Global Citizenship
3. Making Room for Rhetorical Education in the Global Curriculum
4. Seeing Precarity: Rhetorical Citizenship, Global Images, and Rhe-
torical Ethics in the Global Classroom
5. Dwelling in the Global: Rhetorical Education, Transnational Rhe-
torical Ecologies, and the Locations of the Global
6. Conclusion: Rhetorical Education and the Local Production of
Global Higher Education
The monograph’s thesis revolves around the fact that – despite offi-
cial claims to the contrary – rhetorical education in the (undergraduate)
curriculum remains marginalised.1 Minnix presents the reasons why rhe-
torical educators should feel challenged to address the issue. In the con-
text of global education he argues against “the vagueness of global citizen-
ship” and in favour of “the role of rhetorical education in fostering (…)
transnational rhetorical citizenship” (Minnix, 2018, p. 5), and against view-
ing global higher education as a neutral movement, but rather as a site of
conflict between competing ideologies and political interests. He sheds
light on the specifics of this ideological conflict within the right-left polit-
ical continuum in the USA.
In the second chapter, the author is concerned primarily with the de-
velopment of global higher education in the USA after the signing of the
1958 National Defence Act (NDEA). Interested in the ideological under-
pinnings of programmes that aim to internationalise university curricula,
he illustrates different ways in which these programmes influence/change
1 It is safe to say that this is so everywhere, not only in the USA (cf. Abrami et al. 2008; Ak-
erman and Neal 2011, Orlowsky 2011; Želježič, 2016; Žagar et al. 2018) – which makes the
text resonate with readers worldwide.
180
Minnix, Christopher, Rhetoric and the Global Turn in Higher
Education. San Jose: Palgrave Macimillan, 2018.
An extensive study of the role of rhetorical education within global high-
er education in the USA (225 pages), in dialogue with a wide range of com-
plementary theory and research (over 230 bibliographical units), Rhetoric
and the Global Turn in Higher Education is a comprehensive monograph
built upon an appreciation of a strong bond between rhetorical education
and power relations. Between the five-page preface and seven-page in-
dex there are six chapters, with titles that disclose much about the book’s
scope and general orientation:
1. Rhetorical Education and Global Higher Education in an Age of
Precarity
2. Global Higher Education and the Production of Global Citizenship
3. Making Room for Rhetorical Education in the Global Curriculum
4. Seeing Precarity: Rhetorical Citizenship, Global Images, and Rhe-
torical Ethics in the Global Classroom
5. Dwelling in the Global: Rhetorical Education, Transnational Rhe-
torical Ecologies, and the Locations of the Global
6. Conclusion: Rhetorical Education and the Local Production of
Global Higher Education
The monograph’s thesis revolves around the fact that – despite offi-
cial claims to the contrary – rhetorical education in the (undergraduate)
curriculum remains marginalised.1 Minnix presents the reasons why rhe-
torical educators should feel challenged to address the issue. In the con-
text of global education he argues against “the vagueness of global citizen-
ship” and in favour of “the role of rhetorical education in fostering (…)
transnational rhetorical citizenship” (Minnix, 2018, p. 5), and against view-
ing global higher education as a neutral movement, but rather as a site of
conflict between competing ideologies and political interests. He sheds
light on the specifics of this ideological conflict within the right-left polit-
ical continuum in the USA.
In the second chapter, the author is concerned primarily with the de-
velopment of global higher education in the USA after the signing of the
1958 National Defence Act (NDEA). Interested in the ideological under-
pinnings of programmes that aim to internationalise university curricula,
he illustrates different ways in which these programmes influence/change
1 It is safe to say that this is so everywhere, not only in the USA (cf. Abrami et al. 2008; Ak-
erman and Neal 2011, Orlowsky 2011; Želježič, 2016; Žagar et al. 2018) – which makes the
text resonate with readers worldwide.
180
