College Composition and Communication Feb 2011

Rhetorical Agency as Emergent and Enacted

Marilyn M. Cooper

Abstract

Individual agency is necessary for the possibility of rhetoric, and especially for deliberative rhetoric, which enables the composition of what Latour calls a good common world. Drawing on neurophenomenology, this essay defines individual agency as the process through which organisms create meanings through acting into the world and changing their structure in response to the perceived consequences of their actions. Conceiving of agency in this way enables writers to recognize their rhetorical acts, whether conscious or nonconscious, as acts that make them who they are, that affect others, and that can contribute to the common good. Responsible rhetorical agency entails being open to and responsive to the meanings of concrete others, and thus seeing persuasion as an invitation to listeners as also always agents in persuasion.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2011-02-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc201113455
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (49)

  1. Black et al. (2026)
    Defining Critical AI Literacy in the Context of Corporate Narratives
    Pedagogy
  2. Wang (2026)
    The Banality of Rhetoric: Thoughts on an AI-Propelled Rhetorical Economy
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  3. Tham (2026)
    Exploring the Rhetorical and Agentive Functions of Scholarly Biosketches in Aca…
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Banks et al. (2025)
    Toward a Theory of Consent as Assessment Practice
    College English
  5. Ruecker et al. (2025)
    iPads in the writing classroom: Neoliberalism, agency, and access
    Computers and Composition
Show all 49 →
  1. York (2025)
    Failing machines: Applied rhetorics for scalability, continuity, and sustainabi…
    Computers and Composition
  2. Colby (2025)
    Playing the digital dialectic game: Writing pedagogy with generative AI
    Computers and Composition
  3. Reifman et al. (2025)
    Constructivist Writing Placement: Repositioning Agency for More Equitable Place…
    College Composition and Communication
  4. Johnson (2025)
    Rhetoric Re-View: Five Approaches to Rhetorical Agency
    Rhetoric Review
  5. Walker et al. (2024)
    Symposium on Community-Engaged Environmental Justice Rhetorics
    Rhetoric Review
  6. Kulchar (2024)
    Vector Rhetoric: GPT’s Rhetorical Agency
    Philosophy & Rhetoric
  7. Gruber et al. (2024)
    A Forum on Neurorhetorics: Conscious of the Past, Mindful of the Future
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  8. Bastian et al. (2023)
    Toward Disruptive Agency
    College Composition and Communication
  9. Cameron (2023)
    Agentive assemblages in online patient spaces
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Ordeman (2023)
    Histories of Radical Interactionality: Rivers, Disease, Borders, and Laundry
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  11. Piña (2023)
    (Re)Turning to Hypertext: Mattering Digital Learning Spaces
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  12. Park (2023)
    Agency, Identity, and Writing: Perspectives from First-Generation Students of C…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  13. Mihut (2022)
    The Politics of Co-Brokering: Mediation and Affinity in Critical Times
    College Composition and Communication
  14. Jack (2022)
    Redefining Rhetorical Figures through Cognitive Ecologies: Repetition and Descr…
    Rhetoric Review
  15. Diab (2021)
    The Rise of the Arab Spring through a Sense of Agency
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  16. Nelson (2021)
    Memorializing the Civil Rights Movement: African American Rhetorics and the Int…
    Rhetoric Review
  17. Schlachte (2020)
    Material Inertia: The Sedimented Spatial Rhetoric of Public School Buildings
    Rhetoric Review
  18. Sánchez (2020)
    Examining Methectic Technical Communication in an Urban Planning Comic Book
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  19. Cooper (2020)
    Interchanges: Response to Ira J. Allen’s “Composition Is the Ethical Negotiatio…
    College Composition and Communication
  20. Coogan (2020)
    Situating Agency in the Memoirs of Mass Incarceration
    Rhetoric Review
  21. Pavia (2020)
    The “My Online Friends” Religious Enclave: Expanding the Definition and Possibi…
    Rhetoric Review
  22. Stephens et al. (2019)
    A Framework for User Agency during Development of Interactive Risk Visualizatio…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  23. Bridgman et al. (2019)
    Reanimating the Answerable Body: Rhetorical Looking and the Digital Interface
    Computers and Composition
  24. Pflugfelder (2019)
    Risk selfies and nonrational environmental communication
    Communication Design Quarterly
  25. Wang (2019)
    Relive Differences through a Material Flashback
    College Composition and Communication
  26. Gries (2019)
    Writing to Assemble Publics: Making Writing Activate, Making Writing Matter
    College Composition and Communication
  27. Schaefer (2018)
    Using Neurofeedback and Mindfulness Pedagogies to Teach Open Listening
    Computers and Composition
  28. Martin et al. (2018)
    Stories They Tell: The Rhetoric of Recruiting Independent Consultants
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  29. Stenberg et al. (2018)
    “Always Up Against”: A Study of Veteran WPAs and Social Resilience
    College Composition and Communication
  30. Riche (2017)
    Toward a Theory and Pedagogy of Rhetorical Vulnerability
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  31. Riche (2017)
    Toward a Theory and Pedagogy of Rhetorical Vulnerability
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  32. Cloud (2017)
    Rewriting a Discursive Practice: Atheist Adaptation of Coming Out Discourse
    Written Communication
  33. Barouch et al. (2017)
    The Constrained Liberty of the Liberal Arts and Rhetorical Education
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  34. Swacha (2017)
    Older Adults as Rhetorical Agents: A Rhetorical Critique of Metaphors for Aging…
    Rhetoric Review
  35. Applegarth (2017)
    Children Speaking: Agency and Public Memory in the Children’s Peace Statue Project
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  36. Brock et al. (2016)
    Understanding How Algorithms Work Persuasively Through the Procedural Enthymeme
    Computers and Composition
  37. Daniel (2016)
    The Event That We Are: Ontology, Rhetorical Agency, and Alain Badiou
    Philosophy & Rhetoric
  38. Walker (2015)
    Composing Agency: Theorizing the Readiness Potentials of Literacy Practices
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  39. Walker (2015)
    Composing Agency: Theorizing the Readiness Potentials of Literacy Practices
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  40. Sharp-Hoskins (2015)
    Imagining Pedagogical Agency: Shifting fromStudentsandTeacherstoElementsandRelations
    Rhetoric Review
  41. McNely et al. (2015)
    Contemporary Research Methodologies in Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  42. Rawlins et al. (2014)
    Agency and Interactive Data Displays: Internet Graphics as Co-Created Rhetorica…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  43. Kerschbaum (2014)
    On Rhetorical Agency and Disclosing Disability in Academic Writing
    Rhetoric Review
  44. Hallenbeck (2012)
    Toward a Posthuman Perspective: Feminist Rhetorical Methodologies and Everyday …
    Advances in the History of Rhetoric

References (0)

No references on file for this article.

CrossRef global citation count: 73 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Philosophy & Rhetoric Mar 2021
    The Ethical Fantasy of Rhetorical Theory ↗
    James Martel
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism argument affect and writing editorial matter
  2. Philosophy & Rhetoric Nov 2019
    Angry Public Rhetorics: Global Relations and Emotion in the Wake of 9/11 ↗
    Michael William Pfau
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument collaborative writing assessment empirical research public rhetoric affect and writing body and rhetoric book reviews editorial matter
  3. Philosophy & Rhetoric Oct 2025
    The Intellectual and Cultural Origins of Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca’s New Rhetoric Project: Commentaries on and Translations of Seven Foundational Articles, 1933–1958 ↗
    Christopher W. Tindale
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis revision argument collaborative writing editorial matter
  4. Philosophy & Rhetoric Apr 2025
    Aristotle: Art of Rhetoric ↗
    Peter A. O’Connell
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism revision argument multilingual writers grammar and mechanics public rhetoric editorial matter
  5. Philosophy & Rhetoric Sep 2024
    Where’s the Rhetoric? Imagining a Unified Field ↗
    Joshua Hanan
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism composition theory genre theory discourse analysis cultural rhetorics argument qualitative research quantitative research digital rhetoric social media grammar and mechanics gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric affect and writing body and rhetoric editorial matter