Rethinking Post-Communist Rhetoric

This collection examines the forces and factors affecting rhetoric, writing, and communication expectations in the nations of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The entries in this collection focus on four interconnected topics or contexts influencing rhetorical expectations and writing practices in these countries. The four contexts are (1) the dynamics of the educational settings in which students learn about the relationships between rhetoric and writing; (2) the professional environments in which students will apply their knowledge of rhetoric and writing upon completing their formal studies; (3) the greater global context that affects the teaching of rhetoric and writing as connected to educational institutions becoming part of a larger and more integrated global community; and (4) the factors and perceptions that affect how students apply and/or expand their foundations in rhetoric and writing to communicate effectively across different forms of media.
By approaching ideas of rhetoric, writing, and communication from the perspective of these four areas, this collection provides readers with a broad foundation for understanding the various overarching and interlocking contexts that affect perceptions of and practices involving communication practices and expectations in the former Eastern Bloc. Additionally, this approach provides researchers, teachers, and students with ideas and approaches that can be used to more effectively engage both with this topic area and with individuals from these nations.

Pavel Zemliansky is professor and director of the Writing Across the Curriculum Program in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida. Kirk St. Amant is professor of technical and professional communication at East Carolina University.

Part I: Institutional Contexts Chapter 1: A Survey of Academic and Professional Writing Instruction in Higher Education in Russia and Ukraine, Pavel Zemliansky and Olena Goroshko Chapter 2: Introducing Western Writing Theory and Pedagogy to Russian Students: The Writing and Communication Center at the New Economic School, Kara M. Bollinger Chapter 3: Technical and Communication in Russia, Tatjana Schell Part II: Workplace Contexts Chapter 4: Russian Education in the Twenty-First Century: Establishing Links with the Global Community, Alla V. Kourova Chapter 5: Rhetoric in Technical Communication: Europe and the United States, Yevgen Borodkin Chapter 6: Visible and Invisible Boundaries: Documentation Requirements for Opening a Foreign Representative Office in Russia and in the United States, Natalia Matveeva and Elena Bespalova Part III: Geopolitical Contexts Chapter 7: Mapping Professional and Technical Communication in German Higher Education in the Neue Länder since 1989, Steffen Guenzel Chapter 8: Macro Acceptance, Micro Resistance? Perspectives from Serbian Writing Teachers on the Bologna Process, Brooke Ricker Schreiber Part IV: Multimedia Contexts Chapter 9: Creating a Multinational Collaborative Online Community in High-Tech Marketing Domain in Ukraine, Taras Danko Chapter 10: Media Usage Pattern and Trust in Media among Young People in a Large Russian City, Nikolai Balykov and Doan Modianos