Showing papers in "Quarterly Journal of Speech in 2001"
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study is presented in which a notion of "voice" is posited that is constitutive of the public acknowledgment of the ethical and emotional dimensions of public discourse.
Abstract: This essay begins with the observation that the term “voice” is frequently used in rhetorical studies literature. Interestingly, rhetorical “voice” means different things to different scholars. This essay seeks to accomplish two tasks related to “voice.” First, it clarifies the conceptual confusion regarding “voice” found in the literature by relating it to a tension between “speaking” and “language.” Second, to avoid this tension, this essay presents a case study in which a notion of “voice” is posited that is constitutive of the public acknowledgment of the ethical and emotional dimensions of public discourse.
86 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires and suggest that their symbols, such as kerchiefs, slogans and sayings, can be interpreted as a haunting by means of synecdoche.
Abstract: Since April, 1977, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires have marched every Thursday at 3:30, demanding information about their disappeared children. In this essay, we analyze the protests of the Mothers by means of the metaphor of haunting and suggest that their symbols‐diapers as kerchiefs, slogans and sayings, circling the plaza, and marches‐enact a haunting by means of synecdoche. Synecdoche allows the Mothers to manage the trauma of the disappeared but is less effective at generating ways for Argentina to move out of the limbo of the disappearances.
65 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Pentadic cartography is presented as a method for charting the ways terminologies open and close discourse, and it is used to map both a public discourse (a sixty second television commercial) and a critical discourse (Marcuse's social criti...
Abstract: Does contemporary discourse operate within an open universe that enables discussion of public issues from a broad variety of perspectives? Or, as many social commentators maintain, is the influence of technological rationality so pervasive that it subsumes all points of view to its own terms, thus closing the universe of discourse? In this paper, pentadic cartography is presented as a method for charting the ways terminologies open and close discourse. First, Herbert Marcuse's notion of a closed “one‐dimensional” universe of discourse and his proposed Hegelian dialectical method for opening it are examined. Next, Kenneth Burke's interpretation of the closed universe of discourse and how the dramatistic pentad is used to chart it are described. Pentadic cartography, an application of the pentad for mapping verbal and visual symbolic terrain, is then developed and discussed. It is then used to map both a public discourse (a sixty second television commercial) and a critical discourse (Marcuse's social criti...
47 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a rhetorical analysis of the welfare reform hearings and debates from the 102nd, 103rd, and 104th Congresses, all of which led to President Clinton's historical August 22, 1996 signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, P.L. 104−193, is presented.
Abstract: Through a rhetorical analysis of the welfare reform hearings and debates from the 102nd, 103rd, and 104th Congresses, all of which led to President Clinton's historical August 22, 1996 signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, P.L. 104–193, this essay contributes to our developing knowledge of deliberative hearings and debates as precursors to legislation. Relying on a narrative approach, this study challenges the liberatory and participatory functions of the narrative paradigm as conceived by Walter Fisher. The central argument developed in this essay is that some narrative forms facilitate elite discourse, discourage the inclusion of alternative public views, and delegitimize particular public voices.
43 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the ways in which rhetorical scholars have embraced Mikhail Bakhtin as a rhetorical theorist in spite of the fact that he disdained rhetoric, and argued that rhetorical scholars defer the instru...
Abstract: Over the course of the past decade, the work of Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin has exerted an increasing influence in rhetorical studies. This essay explores the ways in which rhetorical scholars have embraced Mikhail Bakhtin as a rhetorical theorist in spite of the fact that he disdained rhetoric. The first section of the essay examines the concept of tradition, elucidates three definitions of the rhetorical tradition commonly available to theorists, and explains the processes through which these definitions articulate as rhetorical theorists even those people who attack rhetoric. The essay then turns to the rhetorical reception of Mikhail Bakhtin, critiques the strategies that frame him as a rhetorician, and offers an alternative reading of his key discussion of rhetoric and of the rhetorical tradition in general. The conclusion argues that the reception of Bakhtin suggests a pattern in rhetorical studies. As rhetoricians encounter theorists who condemn rhetoric, they tend to defer the instru...
31 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors derived heritability estimates for the dimensions of communicative adaptability from correlations based on identical and fraternal twins' responses to a multidimensional communicative adaptation measure.
Abstract: Recently, a model of communication theory and research has appeared in the literature within which stable individual differences in communication behavior represent individual differences in activation thresholds of neurobiological systems. The neurobiological systems thought to underly communication traits and behavior are assumed to be primarily due to genetic inheritance. As such, the model assigns a limited role to adaptability in social situations, instead positing communication adaptability as an inherited trait. In the present study, heritability estimates for the dimensions of communicative adaptability were derived from correlations based on identical and fraternal twins’ responses to a multidimensional communicative adaptability measure. Results indicated that social composure was 88% heritable, wit was 90% heritable, social confirmation was 37% heritable, articulation ability, and appropriate disclosure were 0% heritable. Theoretical implications are discussed.
29 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors extend Kenneth Burkes brief dramatistic analysis of the Korematsu case to show that the chief rhetorical work of this and other judicial opinions involves the strategic representation of a plethora of acts from the acts that give rise to the case to the judicial act of decision itself.
Abstract: In the case of Korematsu v. United Stales, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that excluding Japanese‐Americans from the East Coast following the Bombing of Pearl Harbor was not unconstitutional. This essay extends Kenneth Burkes brief dramatistic analysis of the case to show that the chief rhetorical work of this and other judicial opinions involves the strategic representation of a plethora of acts‐from the acts that give rise to the case to the judicial act of decision itself. Such representations are complex because they are constrained by the “grammar of motives” both within and between the represented acts.
25 citations
TL;DR: The contemporary aversion to or disinterest in orality, performance, and delivery in the study of rhetoric and public address ignores the centrality of these elements in the history and prehistory of the discipline.
Abstract: The contemporary aversion to or disinterest in orality, performance, and delivery in the study of rhetoric and public address ignores the centrality of these elements in the history and prehistory of the discipline This oversight is particularly puzzling when we consider scholarly examination of the origins and early development of rhetoric in Greece While various studies of the Older Sophists seek to reconstruct their doctrines and teachings, none makes clear that at least some of these teachers of the speaker's art must have recognized the importance of delivery‐especially the importance of using the voice to exploit the sounds and rhythms of words and the acoustical features of the physical settings in which oratory was performed Fragmentary textual evidence prior to Aristotle's Rhetoric suggests that some of the Older Sophists‐most conspicuously Thrasymachus, Antiphon, and Gorgias‐must have been interested in delivery and may have given some instruction in it Archaeological evidence concerning 5th
21 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that contemporary critical vexations are not unrelated, but stem from a single theoretical source: a failure to consistently distinguish between culture-bound rhetorical practice and the transcultural processes by which humans create and maintain rhetorical community.
Abstract: Contemporary controversies in rhetorical criticism cluster in three ostensibly separate areas: the ethical and political consequences of ideological or cultural criticism, the possibility and desirability of viewing rhetoric as an epistemic process, and the implications of broadening the purview of rhetoric beyond text to include cultural and personal performance. In each of these realms, current theory provides no conceptual room for reconciling oppositional positions. Proponents are left to agree to disagree‐a civil enough resolution within the discipline, but a sign that the current paradigm might have outlived its usefulness. This essay argues that contemporary critical vexations are not unrelated, but stem from a single theoretical source: a failure to consistently distinguish between culture‐bound rhetorical practice and the transcultural processes by which humans create and maintain rhetorical community.
19 citations
TL;DR: The authors argues that Perelman's description of presence draws our attention to a crucial and often overlooked psychological limitation, our inability to consciously render meaning in more than one way at once.
Abstract: This essay seeks to breathe new life into Perelman's notion of presence and to build the case that presence, properly understood, is the single most consequential and fruitful idea in the New Rhetoric Specifically, this essay argues that Perelman's description of presence draws our attention to a crucial and often overlooked psychological limitation—our inability to consciously render meaning in more than one way at once By conducting a phenomenological investigation of presence this essay seeks to explore these limitations and their implications for rhetorical theory and theorists
17 citations
TL;DR: In the speech at Berkeley, Carmichael revealed a potential in discourse that enabled him to develop, from out of the confines of a tactical rhetoric, a strategic rhetoric of blackness as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In the speech at Berkeley, Carmichael revealed a potential in discourse that enabled him to develop, from out of the confines of a tactical rhetoric, a strategic rhetoric of blackness. Close analysis of Carmichael's speech, grounded in Burke's paradox of purity, illuminates the internal logic of Black Power, as well as Carmichael's use of reflexivity, reversal, deconstruction and re‐construction of dialectical terms and relationships. Contemporary discursive practices addressing issues of civil rights and race are then examined in light of the principles and purposes developed by Carmichael. The results challenge rhetorical scholars and critics to disrupt reliance on dialectical constructions within discourses of race.
TL;DR: The response of the Soviet Union to the American destruction of Iran Air 655 in 1988 represents a break in the mutual cycle of superpower condemnation that occurred throughout the Cold War and most of the Reagan presidency.
Abstract: The response of the Soviet Union to the American destruction of Iran Air 655 in 1988 represents a break in the mutual cycle of superpower condemnation that occurred throughout the Cold War and most of the Reagan presidency. This essay concerns the Soviet response: first, we examine the manner in which Soviet print media disputed U.S. media comparisons with the 1983 downing of Korean airlines flight 007; second, we analyze Soviet news editorials as a composite narrative. Essentially, scattered editorial accounts are collected, compiled, and read as a single Soviet narrative of the event. Read as a composite narrative, the Soviet response represents an important break in the cycle of superpower bickering common throughout post‐Truman presidencies.
TL;DR: In the 1896 Democratic convention, Nebraska's famous orator William Jennings Bryan delivered his impassioned speech, "A Cross of Gold" as discussed by the authors, which employed the radical's rhetorical technique of polarization and became a flag issue that symbolized the gulfs between the rich and the poor and between the East and the West.
Abstract: Speaking during the platform debate at the 1896 Democratic convention, Nebraska's famous orator William Jennings Bryan delivered his impassioned speech, “A Cross of Gold” This speech employed the radical's rhetorical technique of polarization The currency question became a flag issue that symbolized the gulfs between the rich and the poor and between the East and the West Although many authorities believe, perhaps correctly, that this speech gained him the nomination for President of the United States, Bryan did not adapt to the greater diversity of interests and viewpoints of the national audience
TL;DR: The authors argue for a reconsideration of the role of the "literate revolution" in the disciplining of rhetorical practice in the fourth century BCE, addressing the tension between oral memory and literate rationality in Isocrates and Aristotle to illustrate two divergent possibilities of appropriating oral linguistic resources of a culture.
Abstract: The essay argues for a reconsideration of the role of the “literate revolution” in the disciplining of rhetorical practice in the fourth century BCE. Specifically, the argument addresses the tension between oral memory and literate rationality in Isocrates and Aristotle to illustrate two divergent possibilities of appropriating oral linguistic resources of a culture. Aristotle's literate classification of endoxa (received opinions) and pisteis (proofs) depoliticizes the oral utterances and maxims of contemporary Greek culture, thereby rendering discourse a mere accessory of a political agent. By contrast, Isocrates conceives of rhetorical performance as constitutive of political agency and civic identity.
TL;DR: The authors argue that TWC combines priestly (expertise) and bardic (visual eloquence) discourse to create "weathertainment" that predicates and encourages consumer practices.
Abstract: On television (the primary source of weather information), meteorology, or the science of short‐term weather prediction, visually associates atmospheric information as relevant to social and economic issues. This is particularly true on The Weather Channel (TWC). This essay borrows and extends the work of Lessl and Messaris to examine the rhetoric of TV meteorology as it is displayed on TWC. I argue that TWC combines priestly (expertise) and bardic (visual eloquence) discourse to create “weathertainment” that predicates and encourages consumer practices.
TL;DR: The Million Man March exemplified the art of "gittin' ovuh,” an action that simultaneously undercuts one's enemies, putting something over on someone, and providing spiritual uplift as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A charismatic sleight of hand characterizes many rhetorical transactions in African American culture, an adroit manipulation engendered by a history that crushed open confrontation. The skill of the double voiced utterance was appropriated into a performance art which is practiced even today. The Million Man March exemplified the art of “gittin’ ovuh,” an action that simultaneously undercuts one's enemies‐putting something over on someone‐and provides spiritual uplift‐getting over to the promised land. Such a magical performance works by exploiting the power of rhetoric to show and hide. But this is not the same as an exploitation of sophistic technique, because there is an overlapping of the magic of illusion and the magic of the sacred. For contemporary rhetoric this presents an occasion to regard the ethics of deception and the curious phenomenon of a moral sophistry. Louis Farrakhan, although often viewed (perhaps with reason) as either ambitious claimant to national black leadership, or as a skillful...
TL;DR: In this paper, a meta-analysis reveals the dual structure of ethos as reflected in a surface structure of style and a deep structure of argument in four case studies of the use of ethos in science.
Abstract: Aristotle's concept of ethos is primarily one based on civic duty, and as such loses its specificity when extended to the scientific forum. By adapting Aristotle's traditional concept of ethos to contemporary social norms of science, a link can be established between classical theory and contemporary practice. In this essay, I use Robert Merton's theory of the normative conditions of science to perform a meta‐critique of the use of ethos in four case studies. This meta‐analysis reveals the dual structure of ethos as reflected in a surface structure of style and a deep structure of argument.
TL;DR: Stearns et al. as mentioned in this paper described the struggle for self-control in the United States in the twenty-first century, focusing on the emotional and cultural history of tears.
Abstract: AN EMOTIONAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Edited by Peter Stearns and Jan Lewis. New York & London: New York University Press, 1998; pp. 476. $22.50. ANOTHER SELF: MIDDLE CLASS AMERICAN WOMEN AND THEIR FRIENDS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. By Linda W. Rosenzweig. New York & London: New York University Press, 1999; pp. 225. $35.00. BATTLEGROUND OF DESIRE: THE STRUGGLE FOR SELF CONTROL IN MODERN AMERICA. By Peter Stearns. New York & London: New York University Press, 1999; pp. 434. $28.95. CRYING: THE NATURAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF TEARS. By Tom Lutz. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999; pp. 352. $25.95. EMOTIONS IN SOCIAL LIFE: CRITICAL THEMES AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES. Edited by Gillian Bendelow and Simon J. Williams. London & New York: Routledge, 1998; pp. 336. $29.99.
TL;DR: A special mode of resistance, insolence, forced the Southern gentry to acknowledge a unique power among slaves: their speech as discussed by the authors, and slaves suffered for using this discursive tactic effectively.
Abstract: A special mode of resistance, insolence, forced the Southern gentry to acknowledge a unique power among slaves: their speech. This essay (1) explains the lasting significance of the gentry's efforts to suppress slave speech, (2) recounts the elements of insolence according to ancient and modern authorities on rhetoric, and (3) illustrates how slaves suffered for using this discursive tactic effectively. The nature and limits of slave insolence illuminate several troubled dimensions of plantation society.
TL;DR: This article provided a historical critical account of why presidents may have been able to use the local address to manage American pluralism and then offer a reading of how they might have done so, using examples from 1885-1992.
Abstract: Research suggests that modern U.S. presidents increasingly use the local address to speak to voters where they live, both literally and figuratively. Yet most explanations of these speeches suggest that their political efficacy is limited to winning votes. Here I call for a reconsideration of the local address as part of rhetorical presidents’ responses to U.S. citizens’ diversity. Specifically, I provide a historical‐critical account of why presidents may have been able to use the local address to manage American pluralism and then offer a reading of how they might have done so, using examples from 1885–1992.
TL;DR: This article studied the audience in the fugitive slave law in Emerson's 7 March 1854 "Fugitive Slave Law" speech and found that the speech constructs a distinct mode of rhetorical judgment.
Abstract: Emerson's example as a reformer invites continued disagreement. Few studies, however, have offered sustained rhetorical investigations of his antislavery speeches and writings, and extant scholarship has generally slighted the significance of audience to these persuasive efforts. Edwin Black's “The Second Persona” provides the orientation that guides efforts to locate the audience in Emerson's 7 March 1854 “Fugitive Slave Law” in order to demonstrate how the speech constructs a distinct mode of rhetorical judgment. The assumptions of Black's landmark essay and their utility to contemporary criticism are then assessed.
TL;DR: The authors examines five examples of affirmation of the constancy hypothesis in rhetorical criticism and concludes that affirming the hypothesis oversimplifies complex audience dynamics and prevents critics from understanding infrequent, more unified audience responses.
Abstract: Rhetorical critics should avoid affirming the constancy hypothesis, the belief that a stimulus contains the response. After foregrounding Burke's avoidance of the constancy hypothesis in Permanance and Change as a model for rhetorical critics, this essay examines five examples of affirmation of the constancy hypothesis in rhetorical criticism. Affirming the hypothesis oversimplifies complex audience dynamics and prevents critics from understanding infrequent, more unified audience responses.
TL;DR: In this paper, Taoist philosophy and the art of war are discussed in the context of Taoist Taoism, and a response to combs' rhetoric of parsimony is given.
Abstract: (2001). Taoist philosophy and the art of war: A response to combs’ rhetoric of parsimony. Quarterly Journal of Speech: Vol. 87, No. 4, pp. 436-438.
TL;DR: In 2000, Combs expliquait comment the culture chinoise pouvait aider a mieux comprendre la communication humaine and informer the theorie rhetorique.
Abstract: Dans un article publie en 2000, Combs expliquait comment la culture chinoise pouvait aider a mieux comprendre la communication humaine et informer la theorie rhetorique. En s'appuyant sur l'Art de la Guerre de Sun-zi, il suggerait que la guerre etait une metaphore fructueuse en rhetorique et que cet ouvrage fournissait une theorie rhetorique basee sur la parcimonie (economie extreme dans la depense des ressources). Deux reponses a l'article de Combs sont publiees ici : l'une de S. Treat et J. Croghan qui doutent du fait que l'on puisse considerer Sun-zi comme une extension de la tradition rhetorique occidentale ; l'autre de R. Ma qui n'est par convaincu de la pertinence du rapprochement fait par Combs entre l'Art de la Guerre et le taoisme a travers la rhetorique de la parcimonie
TL;DR: Beder et al. as discussed by the authors described the struggle for ecological democracy in the United States as a social justice movement in the 1990s and presented a study of environmental discourses and social action in context.
Abstract: Sharon Beder. Global Spin. The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 1998. 277 pp., $19.95 (paper). Daniel Faber (Ed.). The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental Justice Movements in the United States. New York: Guilford, 1998, 366 pp., $18.95 (paper). Rom Harre, Jens Brockmeier, Peter Muhlhausler. Greenspeak. A Study of Environmental Discourse. Thousand Oaks, CA/London: Sage, 1999, 201 pp., $29.95 (paper). David Harvey. Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, 1997, 468 pp., $27.95 (paper). Tom Jagtenberg and David McKie. Eco‐Impacts and the Greening of Postmodernity: New Maps for Communication Studies, Cultural Studies, and Sociology. Thousand Oaks/London: Sage, 1997, 301 pp., $27.95 (paper). Scott Lash, Bronislaw Szerszynski, and Brian Wynne (Eds.). Risk, Environment and Modernity. London/ Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996, 294 pp., $24.95 (paper). Raymond Murphy. Sociology and Nature: Social Action in Context. ...
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the relation and conflict in American culture and politics, and discuss the role of race in the formation of the United States of America and its political system.
Abstract: CONTROL AND CONSOLATION IN AMERICAN CULTURE AND POLITICS: RHETORICS OF THERAPY. By Dana Cloud. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1998; pp. 224. Cloth $67.95; Paper $31.95. DANGEROUS LIAISONS: GENDER, NATION, AND POSTCOLONIAL PERSPECTIVES. By Anne McClintock, Aamir Mufti, and Ella Shohat. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1997; pp. 560. Cloth $62.95; Paper $24.95. WHITENESS: THE COMMUNICATION OF SOCIAL IDENTITY. Edited by Thomas Nakayama and Judith Martin. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1999; pp. xiv + 314. Cloth $73.95; Paper $36.95.
TL;DR: Hikins' article "The Seductive Waltz: Rhetoric and Contemporary Interpretations of Nietzsche" as discussed by the authors argues that interpretations of Nietzsche by rhetoricians are wrong, and their relativistic positions must be discarded in favor of what Hikins claims to be the mature Nietzsche's writings, set off against those relied upon by previous interpreters or advocates.
Abstract: I the November, 1999 QJS James Hikins' article "The Seductive Waltz: Rhetoric and Contemporary Interpretations of Nietzsche" undertakes to show the importance of Nietzsche to contemporary rhetoric but undermine it arguing that interpretations of Nietzsche by rhetoricians are wrong, and their relativistic positions must be discarded in favor of what Hikins claims to be the "mature" Nietzsche's writings, set off against those relied upon by previous interpreters or advocates. I believe there are some fascinating observations and even arguments in that essay, and I will show how very wrong they are, grounded in false assumptions, specious argument, and erroneous readings. I will note points in Hikins' essay that I find reasonable and agreeable-even laudable! I will also take such issue with his construction of a "mature" Nietzsche as to leave no doubt how and where we disagree. Hikins begins with an obvious problem for anyone new to Nietzsche's works, that they have been widely appropriated and misappropriated. Hikins maintains (380) that this makes Nietzsche "among the most enigmatic intellectual figures of the past two centuries." I would suggest that the kernel of truth important to the enigma is that Nietzsche's style and his mode of argument make him somewhat difficult for readers to engage. The very alarming and disarming problems of interpreting Nietzsche that arise from his prose style are rooted in that style and his own deliberate choices. Certainly a case about these matters cannot be argued based upon any translations—however good—of his works. Doubtless many persons understand that point, and many also would reject any claim to talk about the style of someone's prose after it has been translated. I offer no general comment on that matter, and the arguments I will make do not depend upon that issue, but on the broader plain of interpretation open to all. Nietzsche himself once wrote, I have forgotten where, that "It is neither the best nor the worst in a work that is untranslatable." Hikins launches his broadside against the enemy's sails attacking a group of people claiming (380) that "discussions of Nietzsche in rhetoric differ fundamentally from those in other fields. Without exception, Nietzsche has been viewed as an unrepentant philosophical skeptic." My objections to this claim are twofold: First, I wonder what these other fields are in which the Hikins-created Nietzsche we will hear about later emerges—he certainly fails to establish any here through either citation or quotation; second, why must a person become repentant who is skeptical? This cart before the horse maneuver may gratify Hikins as to his own epistemological and other assumptions, but it is not itself a proven or given. The implication dripping from his comment is obvious: you agree with me, or, sinner, repent! Unrepentant skeptics may simply be those who believe genuinely what they do, and they owe Hikins no obeisance for being