This volume presents a representative cross-section of the more than 200 papers presented at the 1994 conference of the Rhetoric Society of America. The contributors reflect multi- and inter-disciplinary perspectives — English, speech communication, philosophy, rhetoric, composition studies, comparative literature, and film and media studies. Exploring the historical relationships and changing relationships between rhetoric, cultural studies, and literacy in the United States, this text seeks answers to such questions as what constitutes "literacy" in a post-modern, high-tech, multi-cultural society?