Students in Dr. Nicole Pfannenstiel’s summer 2025 writing seminar crafted blog posts exploring Rhetoric & Composition. Over the next several weeks, we will share their work in this space to bring visibility to their posts and offer a variety of perspectives on pertinent topics within Rhetoric & Composition. These posts are written by graduate students currently in the MA and M.Ed. English programs.
Circulation
By: Simren Reitz
Circulation is perhaps one of the most powerful elements of composition because the meaning of a composition changes based on audience interaction. This challenges pedagogical practices that categorize writing as inherently individualistic. Especially in the age of digital media, composition is a collaborative, interactive process in which the audience plays a crucial role in shaping meaning.
Within the context of digital rhetoric and composition, Donna LeCourt (2024) suggests that “responding to others’ posts both (re)assembles and continues a public that is not just a part of an individual writer’s response” (p. 151). Circulation can inspire social change because ideas are recycled and expanded upon through the wealth of experience that the audience brings with them
to the communicative interaction. LeCourt asserts that effective pedagogy positions the composition process as “circular” by focusing on the development that is gained through engaging responses (p. 182). These ideas can be productive in structuring effective writing pedagogies, and they can also assist composers in becoming more conscious of the collaborative aspects of their process.
The field of rhetoric and composition is transitioning “from a view of the solitary writer who has available only limited material means of production . . . to a view of composition as a collaborative activity” (Eyman, 2015, p. 114). Composers who understand writing as a collaborative practice can use circulation to contribute to existing conversations, leading to new ideas. Laurie Gries (2018) describes circulation as “an important constitutive, cultural-rhetorical process” (p. 4). Circulation crafts society, influences perceptions of communities, and leads to
social change. To offer a tangible example, in “Engaging Circulation in Urban Revitalization,” Michele Simmons (2018) analyzes how circulating photos of demolished Hamilton, Ohio formed connections between community members, at first through a shared sense of nostalgia. Simmons recognized that nostalgia itself did not lead to revitalization, and her findings encouraged composers to circulate posts focusing on potential “innovation” instead of “loss.” Simmons
concludes, “circulation studies helped trace how images and texts were deployed to revitalize the town as well as bring light to what encourages and discourages civic engagement in urban revitalization” (2018, p. 58). This demonstrates the value of scholarship in composition theory, which can be used as a tool for social change.
However, the prevalence of digital media requires composers to think critically about what they publish and where they choose to publish it. David Gold, et al. (2019) expresses that students are “often anxious about these new modes of communication, which circulate in a destabilized rhetorical environment.” Increased circulation creates a high-stakes environment for composers who may experience harassment and public failure. In response, Gold, et al. (2019) suggest that these problems can be mediated by applying rhetorical strategies related to the elements of presence, persistence, permeability, promiscuity, and power.
In conclusion, circulation describes the process through which a composition is altered by an audience members’ responses to an initial publication. When composers value connection with the audience, meaningful discourse becomes possible.
References
Eyman, D. (2015). Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Gold, D, et al. (2019). Going Public in an Age of Digital Anxiety: How students negotiate the
topoi of online writing environments. Composition Forum, 41.
https://compositionforum.com/issue/41/going-public.php.
Gries, L. E., & Brooke, C. G. (Eds.). (2018). Introduction: CIRCULATION AS AN
EMERGENT THRESHOLD CONCEPT. In Circulation, Writing, and Rhetoric (pp.
3–24). University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt21668mb.4.
LeCourt, D. (2024). Social Mediations: Writing for digital public spheres (Composition,
Literacy, and Culture) (A. Martinez & S. Waite, Eds.) [Kindle]. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Simmons, M. (2018). ENGAGING CIRCULATION IN URBAN REVITALIZATION. In L. E. GRIES & C. G. BROOKE (Eds.), Circulation, Writing, and Rhetoric (pp. 43–60).
University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt21668mb.6.