Seminar 7: Making Worlds: Everyday Black Rhetorics, Creative Practice, and Community Knowledge

Leaders: Anita Mixon Jones (Wayne State University) and Suban Nur Cooley (Michigan State University)

What counts as rhetorical theory when we begin with everyday Black life?

This seminar explores how Black communities theorize through creative practice, cultural
production, care work, migration, memory, neighborhood storytelling, foodways,
photography, music, spirituality, and other everyday practices that often remain outside
traditional rhetorical archives. Drawing from Black rhetorics, Black feminist thought,
cultural rhetorics, community-engaged scholarship, and public humanities, participants
will examine how ordinary acts of making and living generate sophisticated rhetorical
knowledge.

Rather than treating Black creativity and community life as objects of rhetorical analysis,
the seminar asks how they expand our understanding of rhetoric itself. Across four days,
participants will explore themes of witnessing, making, carrying, and worldbuilding while
connecting shared readings to their own research projects.

The seminar is designed for scholars working in rhetoric, communication, Black studies,
literacy studies, technical communication, public humanities, and related fields who are
interested in developing new approaches to rhetorical theory and methodology.
Participants will workshop works-in-progress, collaboratively build an interdisciplinary
bibliography, and develop conversations that continue beyond the Summer Institute.

Together, we will ask what becomes possible when everyday Black life is understood not
simply as evidence for rhetorical inquiry, but as a source of rhetorical theory in its own
right.

There will be no A/V equipment available in this seminar. The seminar leaders encourage participants to bring charged devices with their preferred hardware and software pre-loaded, especially for any participants who have accessibility needs. You should indicate any accessibility needs on your registration form.