Showing papers in "Quarterly Journal of Speech in 2005"
TL;DR: The Dunston-Weiler Lithograph Company of New York produced a twelve-card set of full-color lithographic cartoon postcards opposing woman suffrage in 1909.
Abstract: In 1909, at the height of the woman suffrage controversy and during the golden age of postcards, the Dunston-Weiler Lithograph Company of New York produced a twelve-card set of full-color lithographic cartoon postcards opposing woman suffrage. The postcard images reflect, and depart from, verbal arguments concerning woman suffrage prevalent during this period. They reflect arguments against suffrage that highlighted the coarsening effect the vote would have on women. The postcards also present an argument that was absent in the verbal discourse surrounding suffrage: that men (and the nation) would become feminized by woman suffrage. Accordingly, these postcards offer a productive location in which to explore how the icons of the Madonna and Uncle Sam, as well as non-iconic images of women, were deployed to reiterate the disciplinary norms of the ideographs of and .
96 citations
72 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that border imagery featured in INS media functions metonymically as both a symbol and an index of U.S. sovereignty, and demonstrate the centrality of sovereignty discourse by examining texts created by the state.
Abstract: Developing literature on late twentieth century U.S. immigration rhetoric has failed to attend adequately to the character of sovereignty claims in contemporary immigration politics. This essay demonstrates the centrality of sovereignty discourse by examining texts created by the state, specifically public affairs videos produced and distributed by a regional Media Services Office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) between 1992 and 2000. The author argues that border imagery featured in INS media functions metonymically as both a symbol and an index of U.S. sovereignty.
65 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of collective rhetoric derived from a case study of a central rhetorical event of the second wave of feminism, the Redstockings’ 1969 abortion speak-out, is presented.
Abstract: This essay offers a theory of collective rhetoric derived from a case study of a central rhetorical event of the second wave of feminism, the Redstockings’ 1969 abortion speak-out. A central rhetorical function of consciousness-raising was the collective development of experiential knowledge, and I propose that collective rhetorics are characterized by the collaborative articulation of individual experiences through such rhetorical processes as narrative, irony and humor, and symbolic reversal. I conclude by discussing the importance of collective rhetorical processes in feminist contexts and the potential utility of a theory of collective rhetoric in understanding a range of contemporary discursive forms.
64 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that rhetorical scholars have yet to move beyond an obsession with the laboring zombie, and suggested an acceptance of the category of the unconscious and a focus on ideology as a force of subjectification.
Abstract: In order to help frame a current theoretical impasse, in this essay we forward the figure of the zombie in Western cinema as an allegory for the reception of the concept of ideology by communication scholars. After noting parallels between (a) an early academic caricature of ideology and the laboring zombie, and (b) the subject of ideological interpellation and the ravenous, consuming zombie of more recent cinema, we suggest that rhetorical scholars have yet to move beyond an obsession with the laboring zombie. To escape the connotation of a totalizing determinism that haunts ideology critique, we urge an acceptance of the category of the unconscious and a focus on ideology as a force of subjectification.
47 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the rhetorical aspects of these paintings, including their form and composition, and demonstrated the power of visual works of art to evoke common humanity in three significant ways: disregarding established caricatures, creating recognition of others through particularity, and depicting material aspects of American society, thereby reminding viewers that abstract political concepts are always relative to the individuals or groups whose lives are most directly influenced by their presence or absence.
Abstract: This essay demonstrates how visual works of art may operate rhetorically to articulate public knowledge, to illustrate the moral challenges facing citizens, and to shape commemorative practices, through an analysis of Norman Rockwell's civil rights paintings of the 1960s. By examining the rhetorical aspects of these paintings, including their form and composition, the essay demonstrates the power of visual works of art to evoke common humanity in three significant ways: (1) disregarding established caricatures; (2) creating recognition of others through particularity; and (3) depicting material aspects of American society, thereby reminding viewers that abstract political concepts are always relative to the individuals or groups whose lives are most directly influenced by their presence or absence.
40 citations
TL;DR: The authors show how the Nazis used the same the same words to discuss both claims, and how they argued that just as the Jews were serious about exterminating Germany, they were equally serious about killing the Jews.
Abstract: The Nazis justified their attempt to exterminate the Jews by claiming that they were only defending themselves against Jewish plans to destroy Germany and its population. I show how the Nazis used the same the same words to discuss both claims, and how they argued that just as the Jews were serious about exterminating Germany, they were equally serious about exterminating the Jews. Since the argument for annihilating the Jews was hard to make in the mass media, the Nazis put it most strongly in word-of-mouth propaganda using speakers and public meetings.
34 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that rhetorical processes are involved in both the construction of what are deemed "authentic" memoirs and the formation of the standards of evaluation that are used in legitimating those authenticated memories.
Abstract: This essay provides a rhetorical analysis of the Wilkomirski Affair and some of the recent public debates that have discussed the importance of childhood memoirs and the formation of authentic Holocaust identities. The author argues that rhetorical processes are involved in both the construction of what are deemed “authentic” memoirs and the formation of the standards of evaluation that are used in legitimating those authenticated memories. Moreover, the author contends that the perceptual nature of this authenticating process means that some Holocaust memories are co-produced by authors and their critics. By comparing some of the textual claims that appeared in Wilkomirski's Fragments with some of the audience interpretations of those claims, rhetorical scholars gain an appreciation of the polysemic nature of first and “second” generation child survivor memoirs. The essay concludes by evaluating the perceived effectiveness of Wilkomirski's performance as a Jewish victim of the Holocaust, and argues that ...
24 citations
TL;DR: This article analyzed the key components of Manning's 1798 Key of Libberty and found that they were: an aggressive use of the rhetoric of critique; the demand for transparency in public argument; the rejection of elite leadership; and the belief that decisions must be made in the interest of the common good.
Abstract: Our analysis of farmer and tavern-keeper William Manning's 1798 Key of Libberty extends the concept of American republican rhetoric to include both elite and vernacular forms. We find that the key components of Manning's vernacular republicanism are: an aggressive use of the rhetoric of critique; the demand for transparency in public argument; the rejection of elite leadership; and the belief that decisions must be made in the interest of the common good. We compare vernacular to elite republicanism and conclude that the vernacular perspective has endured in American reform rhetoric.
17 citations
TL;DR: This paper propose a rhetorical manner of contesting definitional authority that performs immanent critique, inspired by the analysis of a 1971 essay that challenged psychiatry's authority to define "homosexuality".
Abstract: The field of rhetoric has generated studies of definitional disputes and of the relationship between definition and power. Informed by the idea of collective definition created over time, these studies raise an important theoretical-practical question about definition and contestation that may be approached through a concept of authority. Etymologically, authority precedes or transcends power and is rooted in the twin poles of creativity and reason. Accordingly, this essay proposes a rhetorical manner of contesting definitional authority that performs immanent critique. The manner is warranted by analysis of a 1971 essay that challenged psychiatry's authority to define “homosexuality.”
15 citations
TL;DR: Bytwerk as mentioned in this paper, Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2004), 228 pp.
Abstract: Randall L. Bytwerk, Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2004), 228 pp. $59.95 (cloth), $24.95 (pap...
TL;DR: In 1786, backcountry Massachusetts farmers, fed up with government policies favoring aristocratic elites, marched on courts to bar the entry of judges and juries and became known as Shays's Rebellion.
Abstract: In 1786, backcountry Massachusetts farmers, fed up with government policies favoring aristocratic elites, marched on courts to bar the entry of judges and juries. Enacting a long-standing tradition known to colonists as a “Regulation,” the farmers’ movement became known as Shays's Rebellion. Erupting in the turbulent days following the War for Independence, yet predating the formation of the national Constitution, Shays's Rebellion was understood as a crucial post-war attempt to deploy state violence to manage popular dissent; thus, Shays's Rebellion produced deeply problematic yet lasting rhetorical conventions for justifying the compromised forms of republicanism that mark the early republic.
TL;DR: Patricia Bradley, Mass Media and the Shaping of American Feminism, 1963-1975 (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2003), xviii+ 322 pp.
Abstract: Patricia Bradley, Mass Media and the Shaping of American Feminism, 1963–1975 (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2003), xviii + 322 pp. US $18.00 (paper), $46.00 (cloth). Sara Evans, Tid...
TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of a "rhetorical consciousness" is introduced, which is defined in terms of the sophistical principles of imitatio and dissoi logoi.
Abstract: With the rise of poststructuralist critiques of the autonomous subject, attention has shifted from the nature of “intentional persuasion” to the constitutive nature of discourse. Although this turn has led to valuable new insights into the nature of rhetoric, it also threatens to discount one of the most vital contributions of the rhetorical tradition—the nature of rhetorical invention. This essay seeks to recover the notion of invention by drawing from John Dewey's naturalistic interpretation of experience. In Dewey's framework, “consciousness” is neither the private contents of thought nor a point of articulation for social discourse, but a practice of manipulating public meanings as a means of responding to problematic situations. I then use Dewey's notion to advance the concept of a “rhetorical consciousness,” which I define in terms of the sophistical principles of imitatio and dissoi logoi. To demonstrate the pragmatic significance of this concept, I then show, through an analysis of Charles Darwin'...
TL;DR: Butler as discussed by the authors, Undoing Gender (New York: Routledge, 2004), vii + 273 pp. $22.95 (paper), $85.00 (cloth).
Abstract: Judith Butler, Undoing Gender (New York: Routledge, 2004), vii + 273 pp. $22.95 (paper), $85.00 (cloth). Roderick A. Ferguson, Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique (Minneapolis: U...
TL;DR: The authors argue that dominant reportage, in camera courtroom conferences, and Clarence Darrow's famous summation of the trial of the century can be seen as a form of passing by proxy, a collusive and convulsive act of straight closeting that speaks queer sexuality despite concerted effort to silence it.
Abstract: Despite unfolding as it did during the sexual revolution of the 1920s, Leopold and Loeb's “trial of the century” elicited a deluge of constitutive discourse that struggled against overt articulation and circulation of the boys’ queerness. In this essay, I argue that those discourses—dominant reportage, in camera courtroom conferences, and Clarence Darrow's famous summation—manifested what I label “passing by proxy,” a collusive and convulsive act of straight closeting that speaks queer sexuality despite concerted effort to silence it.
TL;DR: In this article, a theoretically driven critique of Lawrence Kasdan's film The Big Chill is presented as a productive example of a constitutive contradiction animating the liberal political imaginary, arguing that liberalism relies irreducibly on an underexamined conception of friendship to supply its model of citizenship as a distinctive, ideologically overdetermined form of sociability.
Abstract: This essay stages a theoretically driven critique of Lawrence Kasdan's film The Big Chill as a productive example of a constitutive contradiction animating the liberal political imaginary. In particular, it argues that liberalism relies irreducibly on an underexamined conception of friendship to supply its model of citizenship as a distinctive, ideologically overdetermined form of sociability and demonstrates the de-politicizing effect this reliance produces on liberal civic commitment. By situating the film in relation to theoretical critiques of liberalism, capitalism, and modern forms of sociability, the essay brings into focus the ideological lineaments of the liberal politics of friendship.