Some people say that the current U.S. marriage debate is one of the most important civil rights issues of our day. Other people say gay marriage is a sin. Some people define marriage as a union between a man and a woman; some define it as an archaic institution unfairly linked to economic and other benefits; some define it as a harbinger of monogamy. In these debates, what gets said, how it gets said, by whom it gets said, when and where and why it gets said, have very real, very important, very material as well as symbolic consequences. How do we analyze and write about the debates in their rhetorical domain – in the domain where language and power intersect? In this class, we will engage the contemporary U.S. marriage debates as rhetorical critics, as simultaneously we explore what it means to be a rhetorical critic – one committed to understanding the ways narratives, arguments, definitions, histories, claims of and to authority, and other elements of text constitute and reflect our worlds and experiences. What are some of a rhetorical critic’s tools and methods? How or perhaps when, does rhetorical criticism differ from historical, cultural, and literary criticism? What historical, institutional, and theoretical pressures bear on contemporary rhetorical critics? This course very much has as its focus the doing of rhetorical criticism and may be of interest to students influenced by the linguistic turn in the humanities regardless of discipline or department. Interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary voices and perspectives are welcomed. In addition to active reading and discussion, work for this course will include short exercises derived from our readings and discussions, a brief class presentation, and a final paper in the form of an extended piece of rhetorical criticism.