THE CIVIC ARTIFACT WHAT IS THING CALLED CIVIC

THE CIVIC ARTIFACT

WHAT IS THING CALLED “CIVIC ARTIFACT? ” (STUDENT GENERATED DEFINITIONS/QUALITIES) Civic Artifact • Social norms • Socialization • Relates to a group’s values and beliefs • Is about rules and expectations • About everyday life • Connections between people • Made by people • From the past/is a piece of history • Is representative (represents) • Physical/tangible OR ideas, art forms, other phenomena • Is an echo from the past • Points to something larger, like a belief • Shows societal context

“ARTIFACT” Sounds like this: But could also be this:

ARTIFACT=MADE BY HUMANS

CIVIC=RELATES TO A GROUP’S VALUES AND BELIEFS

ARTIFACT = POINTS TO SOMETHING LARGER, LIKE A BELIEF

CIVIC = ABOUT EVERYDAY LIFE

ARTIFACT = REPRESENTATIVE (symbolizes a particular perspective on the world? ) (represents the way many Americans perceived the Obama administration? )

ARTIFACT= CONTAINS SOCIETAL CONTEXT What is going on in our society that makes these movies necessary?

MORE VARIETIES OF “HUMAN MADE” Propaganda poster… …mark on a body.

THE ASSIGNMENT Analysis of Civic Engagement Artifact Select an artifact that frames the civic in a rhetorically compelling way. It could be anything from a corporate advertisement to a notice about an event or involvement opportunity happening on campus. This artifact could be contemporary or historic. Then, plan a three- to four-minute speech about the artifact based on RCL course material and discussions. After a brief introduction of the artifact, aided by images or video (no more than 30 seconds), you will want to draw upon course concepts to explain how the event or opportunity in question can be seen as civic and what ideologies and/or civic commonplaces are contained within or assumed by the artifact. Your speech might also explain how context and the rhetorical situation inform the piece’s message and how the artifact is framing the very idea of civic engagement.

“FRAMES THE CIVIC” (more Schudson) “How do we come to understand or accept or take for granted what counts as civic? ”

QUESTIONS TO ASK OF A CIVIC ARTIFACT WHO… • “made” the artifact? • consumes (consumed) the artifact? • who benefits from the artifact? • who modified the artifact?

QUESTIONS TO ASK OF A CIVIC ARTIFACT • Why/how is/was the artifact necessary? • What is/was the artifact responding to? • Has the need for the artifact changed over time?

QUESTIONS TO ASK OF A CIVIC ARTIFACT • Does the artifact have different meanings for different people? • What commonplaces are “embedded” in the artifact? • Or how does the artifact comment on commonplaces? • Were/are any commonplaces/ideologies challenged in the creation of the artifact?

THE END.

WHAT IS THING? WHAT DOES IT SYMBOLIZE? WHAT MEANINGS ARE “EMBEDDED WITHIN IT?

HAVE YOU SEEN ONE OF THESE? HAVE YOU USED ONE? HOW HAS ITS MEANING CHANGED OVER TIME?