Showing papers on "Rhetorical question published in 2023"

Entrepreneurial Visions as Rhetorical History: A Diegetic Narrative Model of Stakeholder Enrollment

Abstract: Research suggests that entrepreneurs persuade stakeholders to engage in risky projects in an uncertain future through visions, compelling narratives of the future. A unique challenge for entrepreneurs, however, is how entrepreneurs can construct a narrative that unites stakeholders with different perceptions of the degree of risk or uncertainty posed by the future. We address this question with a diegetic narrative model of stakeholder enrollment. Our primary argument is that to reduce variation in how potential stakeholders view the future, a story must embed a vision of the future in a coherent and collectively held narrative of the past. We introduce rhetorical history as the primary construct through which this occurs. We demonstrate how successful visions employ historical tropes at the intradiegetic level to appeal to individual perceptions of risk or uncertainty and how those historical tropes are combined into meta-narratives or myths drawn from the collective memory of a community to create broad, extradiegetic appeal to all stakeholders regardless of their temporal orientation. Finally we describe three categories of historical reasoning – teleological, presentism, and retro-futurism – that act as bridging mechanisms between past, present and future that provides stakeholders with an enhance sense of agency in the future.

Truth and Terror: a Text-Oriented Analysis of Daniel 8:9-14

Abstract: Daniel 8:9-14 constitutes the climax of the vision report in Dan 8, and is arguably one of the most difficult Danielic passages. This dissertation investigates the Masoretic Text of Dan 8:9-14 by means of a detailed and comprehensive text-oriented analysis that utilizes linguistic, literary, and intertextual procedures. In chapter 1, an overview of modern text-oriented approaches and the review of recent literature on Dan 8 pave the way for a description of this study's methodology, which consists of a combination of linguistic (syntax, semantics, and text-grammar), literary (style and structure), and intertextual approaches (textual relations within the book of Daniel), using them as a threefold avenue to the understanding of the text, while at the same time demonstrating their interdependence. The linguistic analysis in chapter 2 analyzes the syntactic and semantic features of each clause, as well as significant terms and expressions in Dan 8:9-14. A text-grammatical analysis identifies the interclausal relations in the passage. The literary analysis in chapter 3 examines the rhetorical and stylistic devices and their function in Dan 8:9-14, and describes the literary structure and dynamics of the passage. Stylistic and structural devices include poetic-like language in vs. 11, verbal gender shifts in vss. 9-12, the use of the key word gadel in a "hubris-fall" pattern, and spatial imagery. The investigation of terminological fields and their distribution observes the interplay of military, royal, cultic, creation, and judgment terminology, showing how these themes characterize the role of the horn figure and convey the text's theological message. The intertextual analysis in chapter 4 explores the lexical and thematic links of Dan 8:9-14 with other texts in the book of Daniel---particularly with 8:23-25 and chaps. 7, 9, and 10--12---and how these texts contribute to the interpretation of Dan 8:9-14. The summary and conclusions in chapter 5 highlight the results of each of the three avenues of the text-oriented approach to Dan 8:9-14. The climax of the vision report with its accompanying audition, against the general opinion, is linguistically well-composed and an extremely artistic literary piece that combines significant theological themes. The Day of Atonement serves as a macrotheme and typifies the divine reaction to the cosmic challenge created by the cultic war of the horn. By its complex textual relations, Dan 8:9-14 constitutes a central passage in the book of Daniel.

Carillion's strategic choices and the boardroom's strategies of persuasive appeals: ethos, logos and pathos

Abstract: PurposeCompanies documents such as annual reports incorporate narratives of repetitive rhetorical strategies as effective mechanisms adopted by companies' boardrooms to promote strategic change and strategic choices. These mechanisms can be viewed as persuasive appeals to facilitate boardrooms’ discourses. Despite the contribution of previous research through narrative analysis domains, conceptualization of narrative practices remains a relatively neglected area in the extant accounting literature.Design/methodology/approachThe analytical framework is rooted in Aristotle's three pillars of rhetorical proofs: ethos (credibility/trustworthiness), pathos (emotion/identification through cultural domains) and logos (reason/rationale) in investigating narrative extracts regarding persuasive appeals adopted by Carillion's board through annual reports that facilitate discourse regarding Carillion’s strategic choices. Further, the authors emphasis on repetitive rhetorical slogan strategies embedded in the annual reports regarding Carillion's acquisitions strategy. We viewed acquisitions narratives as rhetorical communication artefacts and analyzed the repetitive rhetoric slogans in these corporate documents.FindingsFindings of this study show how persuasive strategies and repetitive slogans trigger the discourses of Carillion's annual reports by drawing on perspectives from upper echelon theory, impression management and communication patterns. Findings reveal that Carillion’ board strategically use repetitive rhetoric slogans to shape optimistic corporate future performance which might be different from the feasible reality. Finally, the authors argue that corporate executives are striving to construct an alternative reality stem from their initial unrealistic aspiration to lead their sector of less controlled market share. Findings of this study have theoretical and managerial implications.Research limitations/implicationsThe key limitation of this study lies with the case study as the research methodology. Subjectivity remains inherent in interpreting the findings of this study. Future studies may adopt or adapt the authors’ analytical framework to examine other domains underpinning corporate reporting practices.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study have practical implications for boardrooms and policymakers. Findings of this study have theoretical and managerial implications. The level of optimism has its impact on the mood of financial decision-makers, and when there is a high level of optimism, managers may consider making more investment decisions and therefore making many acquisitions. Managerial overconfidence has been widely documented in the literature. Overconfident managers systematically overestimate the probability of good outcomes (and correspondingly underestimate the probability of bad outcomes) resulting from their actions.Social implicationsManagerial overconfidence refers to overestimation of managers' own abilities and outcomes relating to actions which are under their control. Executives believed that they have ultimate control over outcomes, which leads them to underestimate the probability of failure generally. According to self-attribution bias, many people tend to excessively credit their own skills for good results and overly credit external factors for bad outcomes.Originality/valueThe study explores the repetitive rhetorical slogan strategies embedded in the annual reports regarding Carillion's acquisitions strategy. Further, the study reveals how Carillion's board engaged through the early report with discourse and repetitive slogans to maintain their legitimacy. Findings reveal that Carillion’s board strategically uses repetitive rhetoric slogans to shape optimistic corporate future performance, which might be different from the feasible reality. Finally, the authors argue that corporate executives are striving to construct an alternative reality stem from their initial unrealistic aspiration to lead their sector of less controlled market share.

Persuasive Schemes for Financial Exploitation in Online Romance Scam: An Anatomy on Sha Zhu Pan (杀猪盘) in China

Abstract: ABSTRACT Sha Zhu Pan (杀猪盘, Pig-Butchering scam) is a new online romance scam targeting mainly Chinese-speaking individuals. While a few studies in Chinese have paid attention to Sha Zhu Pan, no study in English considers the role of scammers’ persuasive techniques in shaping the progress of fraudulent discourse. This study attempts to address this gap by analyzing the rhetorical moves of the Sha Zhu Pan scammers through using data from both victims and offenders. Victims’ testimonial data were collected from Zhihu, a prominent Chinese online platform for posting questions and answers and users’ personal experiences. This study also uses four complete police reports from law enforcement in China to provide objective evidences from offenders’ perspective in a natural setting. This study advances the model of criminal persuasion for Sha Zhu Pan developed from Gardner’s original persuasive framework. Such a model points out the type of persuasive techniques that the Sha Zhu Pan scammers frequently use during different stages of the scam. The results reflect a preliminary understanding of scammers’ behaviors, showing that the language of this financially and emotionally devastated crime indeed follows a premeditated arrangement. Moreover, such evidences can also support the proposal of related theoretical and policy implications for researchers, the government in China and other countries.

Rhetoric and Clinical Science: Maximizing Rationality Within Post-Justificationist Knowledge

Abstract: Scott Lilienfeld wrote about science and metascience and cared deeply about clearly understanding the quality of science. Lilienfeld criticized obscurantist language such as “neurobabble” and poorly defined terms such as “microaggressions.” Science is a social institution that involves communication through language. This article presents a rhetorical analysis of science. The study of the linguistic dimension of science leads to an analysis of science as rhetoric, that is, the multiple methods of persuasion employed by scientists for multiple audiences and consumers. In addition, the failure of justificationist epistemologies to capture what occurs in knowledge generation also leads to the view that science has a rhetorical dimension in which knowledge-generating processes remain rational but nonjustificationist. In this article, I argue that rhetoric provides a rich additional dimension for criticism in clinical psychological science to identify error. Engaging the rhetorical dimension of science can therefore make science more rational, not less. Some major tropes used in psychological journals are identified and criticized.

'Guilty as charged': Intersectionality and accountability in lay talk on discrimination and violence.

Abstract: Although intersectionality is gaining ground in social psychological research, most approaches fail to capture the historically and interactionally contingent nature of intersecting identities and the implications of their mobilization. This study, aiming at addressing this lacuna, focuses on the intersection of identities as lay actors' resource, used to account for the murder of Zak Kostopoulos, a young LGBTQI+ activist in Greece. Data are derived from 4 focus group discussions in which 25 young people, aged between 19 and 25 years old, participated. Using concepts provided by discursive/rhetorical psychology, analysis indicated that the rhetorical occasioning of intersecting identities is oriented to social accountability concerns and accomplishes important positioning work for the speakers. Specifically, by underscoring the intersecting (sexual/class) identities of the victim, speakers accentuated the moral charge against the perpetrators, distancing themselves from the (constructed as prototypically Greek) image of the un-enlightened and servile bigot. However, although participants explained ZK's murder through recourse to his intersecting identities, they grounded claims for justice on a common human identity (independent of class and sexuality). Findings are discussed in relation to the need to advance a critical agenda for social psychology research on intersectionality and to processes of ideological reproduction in the context of LGBTQΙ+ politics.

The expression of hate speech against Afro-descendant, Roma, and LGBTQ+ communities in YouTube comments

Abstract: This paper addresses the specificities of online hate speech against the Afro-descendant, Roma, and LGBTQ+ communities in Portugal. The research is based on the analysis of CO-HATE, a corpus composed of 20,590 YouTube comments, which were manually annotated following detailed guidelines created for that purpose. We applied methods from corpus linguistics to assess the prevalence of overt and covert hate speech, counter-speech, and offensive speech, considering different grounds of discrimination, and to investigate the main linguistic and rhetorical strategies underlying hatred messages. The research results highlight the importance of tackling covert hate speech, a recurring phenomenon often anchored in irony and fallacious argumentation, including the emotional appeal to fear and the implicit call to action. We believe this study will aid in advancing the analysis of online hate speech, while promoting the development of efficient automated detection models, specifically regarding the Portuguese language.

"The Rhetoric of Numbers in Print Advertisements for Cosmetics"

Abstract: Based on a corpus of print advertisements for cosmetics targeted at women, my research focuses on the use of numerals as rhetorical devices in the discourse of advertising. As this paper will show, numer als are employed recurrently in ads, under several linguistic forms, not so much to indicate precision, but to catch the attention, to enhance the credibi lity of the advertising message and/or to mak e the message more emotionally loaded, in order to persua de women to buy the advertised products.

Talking About (My) Generation: The Use of Generation as Rhetorical History in Family Business

Abstract: The concept of “generation” in family business scholarship is primarily used genealogically to reflect family lineage. This approach fails to account for complementary perspectives that are more established in history: “generation” as a category of societal belonging and a form of rhetorical history. Using a constitutive history approach, we identify four usages of “generation” by which these narratives can establish continuity or change in how families talk about themselves and foreground either family dynamics or embeddedness in societal developments. The form of historical narratives and how they mark time, we argue, is core to understanding rhetorical history processes.

Capacitating the Deep Commons: Considering Capital and Commoning Practices from an Affective-Rhetorical Systems Perspective

Abstract: ABSTRACT This essay develops a rhetorical theory of the commons that accounts for both its ontological and political dimensions and contributes to conversations between new materialist rhetorical scholarship and critical rhetorical theories of human power relations. We develop such a theory by considering how the dimension of ontological entanglement that Ralph Cintron describes as the “deep commons” materializes through systemic organizations of affect that foster some relational capacities at the expense of others. This framing allows us to study capitalism and commoning as affective-rhetorical systems that capacitate the deep commons through distinct practices of boundary-making. Whereas capitalism produces boundaries that treat the deep commons as a source of tendentially limitless growth and enact a split between nonhuman nature and human society, commoning practices draw boundaries aimed at plural and interdependent relation between commons systems and their constitutive outsides, enabling more robust expressions of the deep commons to emerge.

Interactional Metadiscourse in Applied Linguistics Research Article Abstracts of Moroccan L2 Writers of English: A Small Corpus Investigation

Abstract: Arguably, the Moroccan academic writing stratosphere has long been understudied. Such oversight is particularly discerning given how beneficial these studies can be for L2 writers of English. To this end, using Hyland’s (2005) metadiscourse framework, the current research studies interactional metadiscourse practices in a small corpus of 15 applied linguistics research article abstracts. These were collected from two Moroccan-based peer-reviewed journals. A “thick” approach for both frequency and textual analysis was adopted. Such an approach led to having contextually grounded results better matching the corpus nature. We can report that the abstracts exhibited a limited degree of reader interaction, shown by the low percentage of interactional markers and their functional orientation. This was attributed to the nature of the discourse community, disciplinary changes, and rhetorical transfer. We recommend that more effort be taken towards creating better academic courses for students in Morocco and elsewhere. We call for scholars of the field to kindly consider students as a source of input in this type of research.

Hyping the REF: promotional elements in impact submissions

Abstract: Abstract The evaluation of research to allocate government funding to universities is now common across the globe. The Research Excellence Framework , introduced in the UK in 2014, marked a major change by extending assessment beyond the ‘quality’ of published research to include its real-world ‘impact’. Impact submissions were a key determinant of the £4 billion allocated to universities following the exercise. The case studies supporting claims for impact are therefore a high stakes genre, with writers keen to make the most persuasive argument for their work. In this paper we examine 800 of these ‘impact case studies’ from disciplines across the academic spectrum to explore the rhetorical presentation of impact. We do this by analysing authors’ use of hyperbolic and promotional language to embroider their presentations, discovering substantial hyping with a strong preference for boosting the novelty and certainty of the claims made. Chemistry and physics, the most abstract and theoretical disciplines of our selection, contained the most hyping items with fewer as we move along the hard/pure – soft/applied continuum as the real-world value of work becomes more apparent. We also show that hyping varies with the type of impact, with items targeting technological, economic and cultural areas the most prolific.

Communicating dataism

Abstract: ABSTRACT The ideology of dataism has been highly influential during the first two decades of the 21st century, impacting emergent Big Data analytic technologies’ practical application and how the public receives them. In this article, I draw upon William R. Brown's Rhetoric of Social Intervention to interpret the dataism ideology as a communication process. I argue dataism comprises constituent discourses of attention, power, and need that combine to create, reify, and maintain an understanding of Big Data technologies rooted in technoliberalism and technoutopianism. Interplay between these systems has helped keep intact a generally positive public view of Big Data, naming it a collection of innovative technologies that use large quantities of previously unused data to progress social and economic decision-making. I conclude by suggesting the ecosystem of rhetorical interventions into dataism's discourses helps explain how Big Data has grown more popular despite repeated scandals and argue interpreting dataism as a communication process offers fruitful ground for research and critical intervention.

Replacing Notorious: Barret, Ginsburg, and Postfeminist Positioning

Abstract: Abstract:This essay offers a rhetorical reading of Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings to make sense of how widespread outrage over replacing the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a conservative idealogue was resolved through the invocation of postfeminist motherhood. I argue that GOP Senators and Barrett herself positioned her nomination as the achievement of feminist goals, justified through rhetorics of choice and the idealization of (white) motherhood. These strategies cement Barrett as the logical and defensible successor to both Ginsburg's seat and her legacy of feminist work. I conclude with the implications of this circulation of postfeminist motherhood, with focus on political movements for equality and treatment of women.

Securing the Youth Vote: A Comparative Analysis of Digital Persuasion on TikTok Among Political Actors

Abstract: In the context of “pop politics” and “politainment,” the irruption of TikTok has changed the landscape of social media and become the fastest-growing application among young people. Based on the peculiarities of the social platform’s affordances and the political personalization approach, we explore the differences between political parties and political leaders in terms of digital persuasion on TikTok in Spain and Poland. This work contributes to the scarce knowledge about the strategic use of TikTok for political purposes. It also attempts to fill the gap in the comparative research into the practical uses of TikTok in different political contexts. The study explores the three classical persuasion appeals—pathos, ethos, and logos—based on a visual, quantitative analysis of N = 372 videos posted on the official TikTok profiles of the main political parties and leaders from January 1st to March 31st, 2022. Differences were found in how political parties and political leaders used TikTok’s affordances as well as in the main rhetorical resource they use to persuade. We noted the use of more rational resources (logos) in the case of political parties and more emotional resources (pathos) for political leaders. Further, the rare presence of the personality in the videos of the political actors (ethos), along with their unusual privatization role, indicate that personalization on TikTok is far from being considered as part of their digital persuasion strategy.

Business ethics: Between Friedman and Freeman? A response to A Puzzle about Business Ethics

Abstract: The biggest research programme within business ethics is arguably Corporate Social Responsibility and all its related streams (Corporate Citizenship, Social Justice, etc.) While there seems to be widespread agreement that business ethics is situated between the amoral or even immoral view of Milton Friedman as explicated in his 1970 New York Times paper, and the moral view expounded by R. Edward Freeman, this essay challenges that view. Friedman, maybe owed to his flamboyant writing style and crude and purely rhetorical oversimplifications has been misinterpreted to advocate for managers to be completely amoral maximisers of profitability. This misinterpretation has become common wisdom, despite him clearly stating that the law and the moral standards of surrounding society must limit profit-seeking behaviour. Freeman's stakeholder theory, on the other hand, is seen as being on the other end of the continuum, arguing for selflessness—another misinterpretation, as I argue with Ed Freeman's help. Instead, I suggest that both Friedman and Freeman represent the virtuous mean of the business ethics continuum and not its extremes because they both base their theories on the idea of the free and socially embedded individual. The two vicious ends of the continuum are inhabited by the unreal, atomised, completely a-social and selfish individual on the one end, and by the equally unreal collectivised self-less individual on the other. The mainstream in business ethics has declared the collective and selfless end to be the ideal that must guide practice and research. The selfish and the selfless strawmen have prevented a proper debate in business ethics for too long.

The philosophical and historical context of Bion's concept of reverie and its use as a rhetorical act in his theory of psychoanalysis

Abstract: In this article, we seek to clarify the historical and philosophical roots of Bion's somewhat enigmatic concept of reverie. We also reflect on the rhetorical reasons for Bion's decision to introduce the concept into psychotherapeutic discourse. Although Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud (1894) had used the term in their Studies on Hysteria, prior to Bion it had lost its independent significance and role in psychotherapeutic theories. We would contend that even if the concept reverie has become increasingly popular in recent psychotherapeutic discourse, the relative neglect of its history and philosophy have led to problematic ways of implementing the concept in both the theory and practice of psychotherapy. We start from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, moving on to Freud, William James, Henri Bergson and Gaston Bachelard. We present our view of why Bion considered reverie to be an indispensable tool in explicating certain psychoanalytic dimensions. We also reveal the kinds of historical and philosophical commitments that are embedded in the concept of reverie and append brief comments on the relevance of our analysis to the present state of psychotherapy and psychotherapy research.

Introduction: (Re)producing Subjects, Objects, and Resistances

Abstract: Abstract:This essay introduces the Cultural Critique special issue "Communication, Biopolitics, and Social Reproduction." Social reproduction has been a central concept for theorizing the relationship between economic exploitation and oppression along axes of race, gender/sexuality, nationality, and ability, as well as for considering how capitalism shapes contemporary subjectivity. First, I situate social reproduction's relationship to communication and biopolitics, discussing rhetoric and communication as key modalities of contemporary capitalist social reproduction. Second, I consider the ways that scholars in rhetorical studies and in the critical humanities have turned to biopolitics as a vocabulary for theorizing power and resistance under capitalism. Finally, I introduce the special issue conversation, discussing the essays' contributions to biopolitical readings of Marx, to theories of affect and extractive capitalism, and to strategies for resisting capital's reproduction.

Differential effects of analytical versus emotional rhetorical style on review helpfulness

Abstract: This paper examines the interaction effect of analytical versus emotional rhetorical styles and overall ratings on the perceived helpfulness of product reviews on an e-commerce platform. Hypotheses derived from signaling theory regarding the nonlinear and interactive effects of these variables are tested using a zero-inflated negative binomial model with fixed effects. The results from the estimation of the model using a large sample of reviews from a hedonic and a utilitarian category suggest that analytical and emotional rhetorical devices have mutually opposing effects on helpfulness. While an analytical writing style increases the number of helpfulness votes a review receives, both positive and negative emotional tones reduce it. Further, readers perceive polarized ratings as more helpful, and an analytical style strengthens this effect while an emotional style weakens it. The results are consistent with signaling theory and suggest that an objective and analytical style serves as a strong signal about unobserved quality while an emotional style conflicts with the quality signal and reduces a review’s helpfulness.

A Portrait of MWrite as a Research Program: A Review of Research on Writing-to-Learn in STEM through the MWrite Program

Abstract: The writing-to-learn (WTL) literature is varied in how assignments are structured and implemented in the classroom, making it difficult for instructors to identify how to incorporate writing effectively. Drawing on the WTL literature, the MWrite program was established to work with STEM faculty to design, implement, and assess evidencebased WTL assignments. Herein we present a review of the WTL research generated through the MWrite program, situating our findings in a four-dimensional framework of engagement to identify how the MWrite WTL assignment design and implementation has supported students’ learning. Our analysis indicates that the multi-faceted design of MWrite WTL assignments supports students’ development of conceptual knowledge and disciplinary thinking. The assignments’ rhetorical features (i.e., context, audience, and genre) guide how students write about content, and peer review and revision stages encourage a collaborative, knowledge building process between students and their peers.

Past and present: memory as "present of the past". The case of the Rif hirak

Abstract: Starting from the orality and experience of the Hirak actors, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews and field observation, as well as the analysis of the web content of the Hirak actors, to express the relationship to the protest memory of the Rif. This memory does not present a logical sequence of events, but rather operates as a rhetorical approach to the past where the real and the imaginary move as elements that constantly shapes the "market of memory". As such, this paper seeks to capture the movements of inversion from a heroic Rif to a victimized Rif, and vice versa. We will show how the Hirak serves to renew memory, and how actors renew their action by making memory dynamic.

Women Leading the Opposition: Gender and Rhetoric in the European Parliament

Abstract: The European Parliament (EP) is an intriguing arena to study the nexus between gender, speech-making, and leadership performance, as it simultaneously challenges and confirms gender-based hierarchies in legislative contexts. While the EP has a higher level of women’s representation than national parliaments, women’s access to top-level positions nonetheless remains limited. Yet the EP is a special case of a legislature. Lacking a right of initiative, it often acts collectively as an inter-institutional opposition to the EU core institutions. In this article, through a software-assisted analysis of EP debates following the president’s State of the Union Address, we investigate party group leaders’ evaluations of the Commission’s proposals and their charismatic rhetoric from a gender angle. Focusing on the three most recent legislatures (2009–2021), our analysis shows that while collective inter-institutional opposition is present in the EP, women leaders generally show higher levels of rhetorical skillfulness and voice either approval or opposition toward the Commission more emphatically than their male counterparts.

Learning in a Family Business Through Intermarriage: A Rhetorical History Perspective

Abstract: We use concepts from rhetorical history and mnemonic communities to expand on the notion of “intermarriage” in a family business as the merger of shared histories among family members, nonfamily members, and individuals from other families and suggest that a common mnemonic narrative defines the parameters of the family business rather than the structural properties of the firm or the genetic relationships among family members. Our analysis reveals how fundamental family business practices can be changed when confronted with the intimate knowledge of the rhetorical history of the failure of others.

Persuasion Not Propaganda: Overcoming Controversies of Domestic Influence in NATO Military Strategic Communications

Abstract: There are significant differences of opinion between the thirty member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as to the appropriate place of influence within military strategic communications. This paper finds that the sensitivities of some nations regarding influence stem from concerns of being accused of propaganda. While definitions of propaganda are diverse and complex, NATO’s particular definition is unhelpful in distinguishing between propaganda and the legitimate rhetorical influence activities of NATO and its nations. Therefore this paper proposes a new definition of propaganda for NATO, incorporating academic arguments of propaganda as a co-produced strategic process of deception. By creating distance from NATO’s communications activities, this new definition is intended to guide NATO nations beyond the sensitivities and towards a common approach to communications influence operations.

Killing Pharaohs in Exodus: The Anonymity of the Egyptian Kings, the Deconstruction of Their Individuality, and the Egyptian Practice of Damnatio Memoriae

Abstract: Scholars have understood the anonymity of the Egyptian kings in Exodus in various ways. Some argue that the Israelite author intentionally anonymized the foreign kings for possible rhetorical effects. Others believe that the anonymity was a simple case of inadvertent forgetting. Although these approaches have merit in contributing to a more robust understanding of the anonymity of Pharaohs, a different approach may also have something to offer in grasping a fuller understanding of the absence of the Pharaonic names. In this regard, this article seeks to examine the anonymity in conversation with the Egyptian practice of damnatio memoriae (i.e., damnation of memory). According to this method, the proto-Israelite transmitters of the Exodus traditions deliberately obliterated the names of the Egyptian kings for the purpose of terminating their existence and memory from the proto-Israelite community.

Enacting polyvocal scorn in #CovidConspiracy tweets: The orchestration of voices in humorous responses to COVID-19 conspiracy theories

Abstract: Despite the abundance of research into conspiracy theories, including multiple studies of Covid-19 conspiracy theories in particular, user reactions to conspiracy theories are an underexplored area of social media discourse. This study aims to fill this gap by examining a dataset of humorous responses to proliferating COVID-19 conspiracy theories based on a corpus of tweets bearing the pejorative hashtag #CovidConspiracy. We report the complex orchestration of heteroglossic discursive voices in these posts to reveal their rhetorical function, oriented towards expressing a negative stance and, in some cases, amounting to ridicule. The discursive effects of this interplay of voices entail imitation, parody, mockery and irony on the micro level, while on the interactional (macro) level, anti-conspiracy tweets jointly enact what we dub “polyvocal scorn”. It expresses multiple users’ trenchant critique and contempt for conspiracy theories, while the humour of the tweets serves to display the users’ wit and superiority over conspiracy theorists.

Building an Outward-Oriented Social Family Legacy: Rhetorical History in Family Business Foundations

Abstract: Scholars have recently paid growing attention to the transfer of family legacies across generations, but existing work has been mainly focused on an inward-oriented, intra-family, perspective. In this article, we seek to understand how family firms engage in rhetorical history to transfer their social family legacy to external stakeholders, what we call “outward-oriented social legacy.” By carrying out a 12-months field study in three Italian family business foundations, our findings unveil three distinctive narrative practices—founder foreshadowing, emplacing the legacy within the broader community, and weaving family history with macro—history—that contribute to transferring outward-oriented social legacies.