This time on the podcast, we’re talking with Dr. Oren Whightsel about how the rhetoric surrounding the debate over women’s suffrage proved to be a helpful tool in composition courses. We discuss the value of historicizing the teaching of rhetoric and composition for our new students, and how it helps them in places other than the university. Additionally, Devori and Oren talk about the experience teaching the rhetoric of voter suppression is especially interesting in an election year. We also talk about how English departments and first-year composition courses are uniquely able to speak to broader social issues that students often don’t contact elsewhere in their university education.

Theme music, “Storybook,” generously provided by Scott Holmes (scottholmesmusic.com).