Reconfiguring Rhetorical Studies: Crossing Boundaries
The Reconfiguring Rhetorical Studies Collaborative investigates the intersections in rhetorical studies across the disciplines of communication studies and composition. Its ongoing tasks are to undertake and promote research that moves beyond the departmental and disciplinary divisions that fragment the rhetorical tradition through presentation and collaborative review, to engage cutting-edge research in rhetoric by scholars outside the Duluth campus, and to create conditions promoting undergraduate and graduate research projects which take advantage of the full scope of the rhetorical tradition.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, April 10
Thursdays at Four Panel Discussion
Mark Huglen, UM-Crookston
"Actively Seeking Self Revision in Human Relations"
"Interdisciplinary workers need to do more than seeking acceptance of their own positions; such workers need to engage in a program of actively seeking self revision from an 'other.'" Such "active revision" is about actively seeking self revision in human relationships. This is an extension of Kenneth Burke's four rungs of learning. Rachel McCoppin (English, UMC) and Huglen have published a teaching activity article and will be publishing a book chapter article with the same theme. Also, Huglen is using this theme in a section in his persuasion textbook called "Diversity, Religion, and Multiculturalism."
David Beard, UM-Duluth
"Truth and Argument in the New Rhetoric: Toulmin, Richards,
and the Epistemic Movement"
In this excerpt from a chapter of his in-progress monograph
on I. A. Richards and the Anglo-American Roots of the New Rhetoric, Beard demonstrates that the New Rhetoric needed to be fully interdisciplinary, integrating literary critics, philosophers of
language, and speech teachers, to achieve its full bloom. Beard
characterizes the early emphasis in the Cambridge context on
epistemological concerns. Under the influence of philosophers of
language like Moore and Russell, Richards undertook to analyze the nature of "truth," believing that the primary turn in rhetorical
theory would be to differentiate the nature of truth claims (scientific truth, aesthetic truth, historical truth, and so on).
This project was, for the New Rhetoric, a false start. Toulmin, responding to the failures of Richards and his generation and under
the influence of Wittgenstein, set out to differentiate the means by
which we "justify" truth claims. This resulted in the Toulmin model
for argument (grounds-claim-warrant). Functionally, however,
Toulmin's work was still epistemological: integrated with his work in
the philosophy of science, it seems clear that Toulmin's conception of the New Rhetoric falls short of a full theory of rhetoric as a way of
knowing and of acting. It is not until Toulmin is received in the
United States, especially by R. L. Scott in his work on "rhetoric as
epistemic," that Toulmin is integrated into a full rhetorical theory.
Without traveling through philosophy, literary criticism and speech
communication, the New Rhetoric would have remained moribund.
David Gore, UM-Duluth
"Sophists and Sophistry in the Wealth of Nations"
Adam Smith the putative father of political economy drew on his knowledge of rhetoric to develop his thoughts on how to develop a decent society through the science of political economy and the protection of liberty. One touchstone for appreciating the way the rhetorical tradition shaped Smith’s thinking in political economy is to examine how he employs the concept of sophistry to criticize what he observed in eighteenth century educational and business practices. Smith’s moral system, like Hume’s, is predicated on sympathy, or a wide public sharing of sentiment with respect to what stands approved and disapproved in the eyes of society. Sophistry, for Smith, is defined as broken sentiment, sentiment detached from what a society needs as a whole and this broken sentiment is frequently connected with faction and fanaticism, what we would now call special interests. By examining sophistry in the Wealth of Nations we can see more clearly that the eighteenth century reception and use of sophistry may be more complex than previously suggested and that the sophists and sophistry may play a significant role in economic theorizing.
Past Events
Tuesday, February 19
"Journalism through a British Lens": A talk with Gerard Baker
Baker is currently a Washington Correspondent for The London Times, and previously served as a Tokyo correspondent for the paper as well. He discussed the striking differences between journalism here in the United States and in Great Britain. His discussed differences: the education in journalism found here on the UMD campus is a rarity in Britain. This is not saying that the journalists are not talented in Britain, but they sometimes lack the formal training that is regarded so highly here in the States. He also pointed out the striking difference in the regard of a newspaper journalist. According to Baker, here in the States journalists are held in higher esteem than in Britain. Although his paper, The London Times, is held to a much a higher standard, many journalists in Britain are not as lucky.
Questions from the audience included an inquiry into the writing differences of journalists here in the States and those in Britain. It seems British journalists feel they have more latitude and a responsibility to their readers to report with a more skeptical eye. It was pointed out that it seems they take more chances with their reporting than those here in the States. It was offered that perhaps that is why they are not held in such high regard as their American counterparts. The conversations were so intriguing to those in attendance that many continued even after the reception had concluded.
Baker's presentation was attended by a many and varied audience including Nina Petersen-Perlman, a reporter for the Duluth News Tribune, and close to a dozen undergraduate students in various departments. These include students from the Journalism, Communication and Accounting Departments. Several faculty members were also in attendance: Marty Sozansky, Lucy Kragness and John Hatcher of Journalism; David Beard of Writing Studies; and Deborah Petersen-Perlman of Communication. Willie Henderson, the director of the Allworth Institute was also present to listen to Baker speak on journalism in Britain.
Friday, February 1
"The Rhetorical Tradition Meets the World Wide Web and Contemporary War Images": A Reconfiguring Rhetorical Studies event
Thursday, December 13
"Definition and Ideology in the New Rhetoric: I.A. Richards, Richard Weaver and Current Research on Definition": A talk with David Beard
Thursday, October 4
The symposium Politics, Gender, Architecture, Technology, and the Occult featured presentations by
Joshua Gunn of the University of Texas, Angela Ray
of Northwestern University, and Kevin Brooks and Elizabeth Birmingham of North Dakota State University. A full description of this successful event can be found here, and video footage of parts of the talks can be viewed through our Media page.
Tuesday, April 1
Philosophy Colloquium with Dennis Stampe
Professor Stampe is currently on faculty at UW-Madison (Oxford,
D.Phil.) with research interests in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, epistemology. Stampe's research has focused on theories of representation and meaning and related issues. His publications include "Towards a Causal Theory of Linguistic Representation," Midwest Studies in Philosophy (1977), "The Authority of Desire," Philosophical Review (1987), and "Need," Australasian Journal of Philosophy (1988). He is currently writing a book on free will. Cosponsored by UMD's Department of Philosophy.
Members
The Reconfiguring Rhetorical Studies Collaborative consists of the following faculty from the University of Minnesota - Duluth and Crookston campuses, mostly members of the Department of Communication and the Department of Writing Studies:
David Beard received his MA and PhD in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Writing Studies. His research interests include the History of Rhetoric, Disciplinarity and Argumentation and Audience Studies. He teaches Professional Writing and Rhetoric in Popular and Aesthetic Discourse.
Rebecca De Souza received her PhD from Purdue University and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Communication. Her research interests include Health Communication, Health and Media, and Globalization/Culture. She teaches Health Communication, Globalization and Media and Society.
David Charles Gore received his PhD from Texas A&M University and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Communication. 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.
Mark E. Huglen received his PhD from Wayne State University and is currently an associate professor of Communication at the UMN Crookston campus. His research interests include Organizational Communication, Political Communication and Higher Education Accreditation. His teaching interests include Rhetorical Theory, Communication in Human Relationships and the Rhetoric of Oppression.
Kenneth Marunowski received his PhD from Kent State University and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Writing Studies. His research interests include Visual Rhetoric, Intercultural Communication, and European Integration. His teaching interests include the promotion of cross-cultural understanding.
Elizabeth Nelson received her PhD from the University of Iowa and is now department head and an associate professor in the Department of Communication. Her research interests include Scientific and Popular Understandings of Happiness, Rhetoric and Fascism, Rhetoric and Religion and Rhetoric and Body Image. Her teaching interests focus on Argumentation, History of Rhetoric, Ethics and Communication and Public Discourse.
Juli Parrish received her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh and is currently an instructor in the Department of Writing Studies. Her research interests include Fan Fiction, Digitally Mediated Writing Groups and Digital Narrative. Her teaching interests include Digital Literacy, Composition History and writing of all kinds.
Michael William 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. 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.