Fantastical speeches: Performing fanfiction to model protest communication

Abstract

This original teaching idea is designed for a course unit on protest communication. It consists of a performed protest speech, dubbed the “fantastical speech,” and a post-speech reflective analysis. Students utilize the subversive genre of fanfiction to compose a protest speech in which, as a fictional character, they convince their fictional audience to change the canonical plot of their fictional universe. Students will leave the activity with an understanding of protest communication and the ability to convey their own protest messages effectively.

Courses: Persuasion, Social Movements, Introduction to Rhetoric, Argumentation, Public Advocacy, Civic Engagement, Political Communication, Public Speaking.

Objectives: This unit activity invites students to change the canonical plot of one of their favorite fictional universes by taking on the persona of a fictional character and engaging other members of that universe to make a dramatic, noncanonical change. By the end of this unit activity, students will: (1) understand the purpose, place, and other generic features of protest communication; (2) name, define, and utilize specific communication strategies to convey their own protest message effectively; (3) perform their own preprepared protest speech; and (4) concisely reflect on their invention and delivery processes using communicative theories of activism, advocacy, and social protest.