The Modern Rhetoric Project
This project follows the work of the original Reconfiguring Rhetorical Studies Collaborative.
Colloquium on Modern Rhetoric
October 22-24, 2009
We will focus on modern rhetorical theory. In the 19th century, the university had not yet fragmented into contemporary disciplinary structures. By 1900, literary studies, psychology and philosophy had differentiated. By 1920, speech-communication coalesced as its own intellectual field, with composition following soon after. As a result, the rhetorical tradition, as a more-or-less coherent pedagogical tradition for centuries, was subdivided. It was subdivided by research method (as philosophy, philology, aesthetics and psychology broke apart) and by medium (in the study of written and spoken communication). The rhetorical tradition would never quite be the same.
This “modern” rhetorical period is contemporary to “modern” literature, art and architecture. We have a canon of major figures and texts, but we do not have a definitive scholarly assessment. This project will articulate the modern in rhetorical theory, answering three questions:
- To what extent is modern rhetorical theory a rearticulation or transformation of classical rhetorical theories?
- To what extent is modern rhetorical theory a rupture from its classical roots in response to social, aesthetic or technological changes?
- Can we use modern rhetorical theories to generate contemporary rhetorical criticism?
Conveners: David Beard (Writing Studies, UM-Duluth), David Gore (Communication Studies, UM-Duluth), Richard Graff (Writing Studies, UMTC), Alan Gross (Communications Studies, UMTC), Mark Huglen (Communication, UM-Crookston), Kenneth Marunowski (Writing Studies, UM-Duluth), Elizabeth Nelson (Communication Studies, UM-Duluth), Michael Pfau (Communication Studies, UM-Duluth), Arthur Walzer (Communication Studies, UMTC).
Symposium Schedule
Thursday, October 22:
235 Nolte
5:15: Opening Remarks by David Beard, UM-Duluth
5:30: Introduction by James Pratt, UW-River Falls
James Aune, TA&MU, "Six Theses on Rhetoric, Modernity, and Modernism"
5:50: Introduction by
Daisy Wallace, UMD
William Keith, UW-Milwaukee, "Rhetoric and Modernity: The Curse of the Hybrid"
Discussion with James Aune and William Keith
6:30: Dinner (Limited seats available for graduate students interested in rhetoric; rsvp to dbeard@.dumn.edu)
7:15:
Introduction by Patrick Eidsmo, UMD
Roger Graves, University of Alberta, "Notes Towards a Theory of Rhetoric for a Networked World"
7:35: Question and Answer Session, Open Discussion
Enjoy the Evening
Friday, October 23:
Morning Sessions in 125 Nolte
8:30-10:00: Opening Session
Coffee and Welcome by David Beard, UM-Duluth and Susannah Smith, Managing Director of the IAS. Introductions by Anne Davis, UW-Milwaukee.
Presentation by Michael Pfau, UM-Duluth
Joshua Gunn, UT-Austin (video withheld by request)
Response by Tyler Buckley, UW-Milwaukee, "Rhetorical Modernism: Art and the End of Rhetoric"
Discussion
10:15-11:30: 20th Century Modern Rhetoric and the Classical Tradition, Introductions by Eden Leone, BGSU
Presentations by Debra Hawhee, PSU & Richard Graff (UMTC) (video withheld by request)
John Logie (UMTC)
Response by Tim Behme (UMTC) and Beth Schoborg (UMD) and discussion
11:30-12:50: Breakout Sessions: Presentations and Discussions of Aspects of 20th Century Rhetoric
Rhetorical Theory and Disciplinarity in 140 Nolte, Introductions by Alex Hayden (UMTC)
Joe Erickson (BGSU)
James Floyd (Central Missouri State University), "From Modernism to Postmodernism: A Process of Evolution"
Mark Huglen (UM-Crookston), "Notes on Modern Rhetoric and Seven Approaches to Persuasion"
Discusssion (12:15pm-12:50pm)
Rhetorical Theory and Criticism in 125 Nolte, Introductions by Rebecca Kuehl (UMTC)
Elizabeth Nelson (UM-Duluth), "Eudaimonic Approaches to Happiness: One Answer to Some Challenges of Modernism"
Kirsti Cole (MSU-Mankato), "Rhetoric, Modernity and Radicalism"
Discussion
12:50: Lunch in 235 Nolte (Limited seats available for graduate students interested in rhetoric; rsvp to dbeard@.dumn.edu)
- Introduction by Julie Daniels (Century College)
- Provocation by R. L. Scott (UMTC)
Afternoon Sessions in 125 Nolte
2:00-3:45: Visual Rhetoric, Introduction by Max Philbrook, UM-Duluth
Alan Gross (UMTC), "This paper is brought to you by the letter M"
Kenneth Marunowski (UM-Duluth), "Matisse and Metaphor in Open Window, Collioure"
Introductions by Kim Thomas-Pollei (UMTC)
Presentations by Marguerite Helmers (UW-Oshkosh) and Sara Newman (Kent State University)
Discussion Moderated by Kim Thomas-Pollei and Max Philbrook (3:00-3:45)
4:00-5:00: Session on the Enlightenment Legacy, Introduction by Cheryl Read (UMD)
Presentation by William Henderson (UMD)
Introduction by Liz Kalbfleisch (UMTC)
David Beard (UMD), "Rhetoric, Belief and the Problem of a Modern Religious Identity"
David Gore (UMD)
Discussion led by Arthur Walzer (UMTC)
5:00: Synthetic Discussion; Final Remarks by David Beard (UM- Duluth)
5:30: Enjoy the Evening
Saturday, October 24:
235 Nolte - Final meetings to discuss the future of components of the Modern Rhetoric project (optional).
Participants
James Arnt Aune is Professor of Communication at Texas A&M University, where he teaches courses in the history of rhetoric and legal argument. He is the author of Rhetoric and Marxism (1994) and Selling the Free Market (2001), as well as the editor of two books on presidential rhetoric. His two main research interests are in legal/constitutional rhetoric and in the historical sociology of rhetoric.
David Beard is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota -Duluth in the Department of Writing Studies and the Graduate Faculty in English, and is also a member of the Graduate Faculty in Literacy and Rhetorical Studies (UMTC).
Tim Behme is a lecturer in the department of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota. He studies classical rhetoric, contemporary rhetoric, and communication ethics generally, studies the history of authorship norms and ethics in ancient Greece specifically
Tyler Buckley is a teaching assistant in the Department of Communication at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
Kirsti Karra Cole received her PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from Arizona State University in 2008. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Minnesota State University in the English Department. Kirsti leads faculty development seminars on writing intensive classrooms, teaches rhetorical theory and methodology, and researches women’s activist rhetoric. She has a book forthcoming from Edward Mellen Press, "The Rhetoric of Effect in the Work of Edgar Allan Poe," as well as an article entitled “Feminist Social Projects: Building Bridges between Communities and Universities” in College English. Kirsti has also edited a volume of thirdspace, an online feminist journal.
Julie Daniels (Century College)
James Floyd (Central Missouri State University)
David Charles Gore received his PhD from Texas A&M University and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Minnesota - Duluth. His research interests include the History of Rhetoric, Rhetoric and Economics, and Rhetoric of Religion. His teaching interests include the History of Rhetoric and Rhetoric and Globalization.
Roger Graves graduated from the Ohio State University with a PhD specializing in composition and rhetoric in 1991. Since then he has taught at the University of Waterloo, Illinois State University, DePaul University, and the University of Western Ontario. Currently he is professor in the department of English and Film Studies and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at the University of Alberta where he directs the Writing Across the Curriculum initiative.
Alan Gross is a professor of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He has published extensively on the rhetoric of science, on rhetorical theory, and, currently, on visual rhetoric.
Joshua Gunn is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Texas. His most recent book is Modern Occult Rhetoric: Mass Media and the Drama of the Twentieth Century.
Marguerite Helmers (UW-Oshkosh)
Mark E. Huglen is a tenured Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. He is the author/co-author of the following books: Poetic Healing: A Vietnam Veteran’s Journey from a Communication Perspective, with Basil B. Clark (2005); Making Sense of Political Ideology: The Power of Language in Democracy, with Bernard L. Brock, James F. Klumpp, and Sharon Howell (2005); and Argument Strategies from Aristotle’s Rhetoric, with Norman E. Clark (2004). Mark is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Kenneth Burke Society, 2008, as well as the Most Supportive of Diversity Award from the Black Student Association at the University of Minnesota, Crookston, 2008. Dr. Huglen is a University of Minnesota “ALP Fellow,” and he was the Lead Author/Editor of the successful UMC Self-Study for the Higher Learning Commission as well as the Chair of the UMC Faculty Assembly.
William Keith is a professor of Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Dr. Keith has co-edited Rhetorical Hermeneutics (1997), and more recently published Democracy as Discussion: Adult Civic Education and the American Forum Movement (2007), which received the National Communication Association's Diamond Anniversary Award. His current research focuses on the role of rhetoric and communication in public deliberation, with a focus on the intellectual and pedagogical history of the speech communication field.
Kenneth Marunowski is an assistant professor in the Writing Studies Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. In addition to his research interests in visual rhetoric and cross-cultural communication, he is also an avid painter, backpacker and Tai Chi practitioner.
Elizabeth Jean Nelson received her BA in Rhetoric from U.C. Berkeley, her MA in Communicaton Arts from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Her early published work focuses on the "bad boys" of recent history -- Benito Mussolini, and Jim Jones of the Peoples' Temple. Nelson has also maintained a life-long interest in gender and media. She teaches courses in public discourse, history of rhetoric, rhetorical criticism and communication ethics. Most recently Nelson has commenced an extensive study of "happiness texts," scientific as well as popular, Eastern as well as Western, and has developed and is teaching a seminar on "rhetoric and happiness."
Sara Newman (Kent State University)
Michael Pfau received his PhD in Communication Studies from Northwestern University and his MA in Political Science from Tulane University. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Minnesota - Duluth. His research interests include Political discourse (especially of the 19th century), Political Party Rhetoric, Fear Appeals and Conspiracy Discourse and Civic Republicanism in Rhetorical Theory and Practice.