CS 400Z

Public Advocacy

This course focuses on the role and practice of public advocacy in a democracy. We begin with defining public advocacy and its role, and contrast it with propaganda, public relations and journalism. We will focus on ways of analysing the argumentative strategies and rhetorical tactics used in public debates. This will be followed by a focus on the arguments made in some recent and contemporary campaigns. These may include some or all of the following: same-sex marriage; attempts to ban books and censor 2SLGBTQIA+ programming in schools; censor anti-racism education and/or ‘CRT’; legislative bans on drag; residential school genocide denialism.