In this dissertation I argue for using John Dewey's scholarship in ethics, progressive education, and public discourse as a framework for teaching rhetoric for civic engagement. By "civic engagement" I mean working to discover, address, or confront issues of public importance through discourse. In the first part I establish Dewey as a point of reference for progressive revisions of curriculum in rhetoric at the undergraduate level. Using data gathered from a sample of undergraduate institutions, I argue for an increase in courses that reflect classical interests in performance of argument and critical analysis of text as essential skills for civic engagement. In the second part I describe what such revisions may look like as we consider teaching argument as a back and forth process, deliberation as a key component of rhetorical literacy, and critical analysis of literature as an aid to civic imagination. This dissertation contributes to the continuing interest in the way rhetorical education can help students develop transferable skills, attitudes, and interests that will make them effective and ethical agents in their professional and civic lives.

<p>  </p> <p>The transition of Folk music in the USA from the margins to notoriety, had its roots in the ‘leftist’ ideology of their proponents, and a message of communal solidarity, based on the ‘we’. The arrival of Bob Dylan in the 60s to an already recognized folk movement propelled him to global stardom, which made it possible for his music to permeate Spanish houses and songwriters’ circles. Dylan focused on the ‘you’ as a finger-pointing technique that questions his listener’s alliances. He had a revolutionary character that influenced songwriters both in the USA and Spain, whether through his lyrics or his rebellious rejection of any kind of pressure group. </p> <p>His lyrical content of vivid images placed before the eyes of the listeners (<em>enargeia</em>), captivated his audiences. Spanish songwriters, who at the same time received influence from France, or the social poets of the first half of the 20th Century, among others, found in Dylan a valuable source to widespread a non-conformist message of freedom. They translated and reinterpreted some of Dylan’s protest songs, and in the case of Catalonia or Galicia, used their native languages as a symbol of defiance against the Francoist Government.</p> <p>Early Dylan and his counterparts in Spain became organic intellectuals as a bridge between the subalterns and the ruling bloc. They used epideictic discourses to put their audiences in questioning and decision-making positions. Their use of <em>prosopopeia</em> bestowed memory to those individuals who were wronged by the judiciary system in the USA and Spain; aiding in developing a counter-hegemonic discourse that placed them in the tradition of the <em>euphantasiotos</em>, who is as skilled in the <em>ars </em>of <em>enargeia </em>as in the <em>ars </em>of <em>actio</em>, as a poet and a performer. </p>