ABSTRACT
In the era of globalization, formalized studies of emergent rhetoricsthose beyond the “new” rhetorics carved out by western academics in the second half of the twentieth century-are unquestionably necessary to formalized studies of writing and the teaching of writing. Composition, as an academic discipline, is unavoidably rhetorical and both implicated in globalization and contributive to it. While what constitutes writing is radically evolving amidst new technological developments, what constitutes rhetoric is also evolving amidst unprecedented changes to the spatial and temporal contexts within which it operates. This chapter acknowledges the paradigm shift we are all in vis-à-vis globalization and argues that writing instructors, if we are to remain committed to teaching students to be effective users of discourse in social contexts, will have to maintain our emphasis on research and graduate education in rhetoric, especially as newer rhetorics (and new conditions for rhetorical action) are developing amidst the political-economic processes, mediated realities, and evolving forms of social and cultural life brought on by globalization.
