When looking at a university curriculum, civil discourse stands as an incredibly impactful topic that is often overlooked. Nazmul Rony, a Slippery Rock University associate professor of strategic communication and media, is challenging that precedent by authoring his latest book, “Civil Discourse in Action.”
“There is a lack of focus on the topic of civil discourse in the world,” Rony said. “We don’t talk about ethical and critical thinking enough as we should. I see that as a big problem.”
Since beginning his tenure at SRU in 2018, Rony has been educating students on the practices of effective communication. At the time of his arrival, the department was undergoing a major curricular shift, moving its foundational focus away from traditional public speaking and toward fostering professional communication through the lens of civil discourse.
“We needed to address other important issues besides public speaking, so the program was redesigned,” Rony said. “I was fortunate to start right after that change, so I had the opportunity to integrate materials into the new course on civil discourse.”
Despite this positive change, Rony quickly encountered a roadblock: finding an appropriate textbook for his classes. To Rony, most available texts either glossed over the core components of civil discourse entirely or analyzed them in a way that felt far too complex for beginners. This gap in educational resources ultimately inspired him to write his own book.
“Ever since [2018], I’ve been trying to find a good book for my students, and I never found one,” Rony said. “Not many books have topics that cover critical thinking, ethical thinking, media literacy and other things of that nature. If a book is going to have a chapter about ethics, it’s probably going to be at the end, and students assume they can safely ignore that. That idea is the main reason why I wrote ‘Civil Discourse in Action.’ We cannot afford to ignore these topics, andthis is my small attempt to fill that gap.”
“Civil Discourse in Action”serves as an informative theory and practice book, generally geared toward undergraduate college students, but is not exclusively applicable to them. Rony champions this book as an accessible introduction to the concepts of civil discourse for its easily digestible nature, making it a perfect steppingstone for any reader.
“It’s a book that anybody can read, not just undergrad students,” Rony said. “I used very layman language, so that nobody feels like, ‘Oh, this book is so theory heavy.’ I would even say that high school students can make sense of it. Anybody can make use of the topics addressed in the book, and it’s enough to prepare you for your day-to-day conversations in a civil manner.”
More information about the strategic communication and media program at SRU can be found on the program’s webpage. More information about Rony’s book can be found on the Cognella Academic Publishing website.
