Digital Commons Network^™

Prisoner Of Context: The Truman Doctrine Speech And J. Edgar Hoover’S Rhetorical Realism, Stephen Underhill

Stephen M. Underhill

In this project, I argue that J. Edgar Hoover’s style of political realism should be studied by critics because it long preceded that of President Harry S. Truman. Thestyle belonged to a stockpile of anti-Communist imagery that helped to shape how the Truman Doctrine speech was drafted and how audiences interpreted its meanings in more local domestic politics. When Truman fınally announced that the Soviet Union had challenged international protocol, I argue that he confırmed the vision that his Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director and other detractors had developed throughout the New Deal to discredit reformers who challenged issues …

Information Infrastructure As Rhetoric: Tools For Analysis, Nathan R. Johnson

Nathan R. Johnson

No abstract provided.

We Want Yer, Mckinley’: Epideictic Rhetoric In Songs From The 1896 Presidential Campaign, William D. Harpine

William D Harpine

No abstract provided.

Epideictic And Ethos In The Amarna Letters: The Withholding Of Argument, William D. Harpine

William D Harpine

No abstract provided.

Universalism In Policy Debate: Utilitarianism, Stock Issues, And The Rhetorical Audience, William D. Harpine

William D Harpine

No abstract provided.

What Do You Mean, Rhetoric Is Epistemic?, William D. Harpine

William D Harpine

The thesis that rhetoric is epistemic has gained widespread acceptance and has influenced rhetorical theory. The thesis suggests that argumentative justification in rhetorical contexts is fundamentally epistemic. Unfortunately, however, much of the literature developing the thesis has employed vague or inconsistent definitions of key terms, resulting in theoretical errors and needless complications. This essay clarifies the definitions of “rhetoric,” “knowledge,” and “certainty,” showing how the notion that rhetoric is epistemic might be developed in a clearer and more useful way.

Cooking Without Women: The Rhetoric Of The New Culinary Male, Casey R. Kelly

Casey R. Kelly

Casey Kelly's contribution to Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Volume 12, Issue 2.

Shaved Or Saved? Disciplining Women’S Bodies, Casey R. Kelly, Kristen Hoerl

Casey R. Kelly

Proponents of sexual liberation and abstinence-until-marriage advocates appear to be on opposing ends of the sociopolitical spectrum; however, both are invested in the regulation of women’s vaginas. We argue that the rhetoric of both communities produces the same disciplinary configuration for the control of women’s bodies. Both communities instruct women that the appearance of a prepubescent and pure vagina is essential to sexual appeal and self-care. Whether sex positive or sex negative, both communities articulate a model of sexual health that negates women’s status as active, desiring subjects. Ultimately, we argue that public scrutiny of women’s vaginas implicitly and overtly …

Shaved Or Saved? Disciplining Women’S Bodies, Casey R. Kelly, Kristen Hoerl

Kristen Hoerl

Proponents of sexual liberation and abstinence-until-marriage advocates appear to be on opposing ends of the sociopolitical spectrum; however, both are invested in the regulation of women’s vaginas. We argue that the rhetoric of both communities produces the same disciplinary configuration for the control of women’s bodies. Both communities instruct women that the appearance of a prepubescent and pure vagina is essential to sexual appeal and self-care. Whether sex positive or sex negative, both communities articulate a model of sexual health that negates women’s status as active, desiring subjects. Ultimately, we argue that public scrutiny of women’s vaginas implicitly and overtly …

Proximity And Journalistic Practice In Environmental Discourse: Experiencing “Job Blackmail” In The News, Barbara Johnstone, Justin Mando

Barbara Johnstone

Industrial Apocalyptic: Neoliberalism, Coal, And The Burlesque Frame, Jennifer Peeples, Pete Bsumek, Steve Schwarze, Jen Schneider

Jen Schneider

Rhetorical scholarship and cultural commentary have demonstrated that environmentalist voices are consistently associated with apocalyptic rhetoric. However, this association deflects attention from the apocalyptic rhetoric that comes from industry and countermovements to environmentalism. This essay seeks to remedy that oversight by proposing the concept of "industrial apocalyptic" as a significant rhetorical form in environmental controversy. Based on analysis of the rhetoric of the U.S. coal industry, we find that these industrial apocalyptic narratives rely on a burlesque frame to disrupt the categories of establishment and outsider and thus thwart environmental regulation. Ultimately, we argue that industrial apocalyptic co-opts environmentalist appeals …

The Rhetoric Of Public Speech In A Digital Era., Paul Van Den Hoven

Paul van den Hoven

No abstract provided.

Was Blind But Now I See: Animal Liberation Documentaries’ Deconstruction Of Barriers To Witnessing Injustice, Carrie Packwood Freeman, Scott Tulloch

Carrie P. Freeman

Many pro-animal documentaries are built around footage taken by undercover animal activists uncovering abuses in industries such as agriculture and fishing, fur, marine parks, and biomedical research labs. This analysis explores the central role of undercover activist footage in recent documentaries: Earthlings, The Cove, The Witness, Peaceable Kingdom, Behind the Mask, Fowl Play, and Dealing Dogs. Considering both form and function, I investigate how this undercover footage works in terms of providing an inherent critique of power in our relationship with nonhuman animals – a sense of witnessing a crime that is an injustice both in terms of causing animal …

Digital Rhetoric: Doing Things With Words Online, Lisa M. Russell

Lisa M Russell

It is through rhetorical principles applied to digital writing that online writers can be heard above the din confronting weary online browsers. The synergy between classical rhetoric and new media practices leads to persuasive and memorable digital writing. Despite the hurried clip and the complex nature of technology, grounding writing in firm rhetorical concepts can produce compelling online content. The purpose of this capstone project is to teach specific audiences how to do things with words online through a series of three modules whose unifying themes include the broad topics of targeting niche audiences, persuasive writing, and using the digital …

Rhetorical Counterinsurgency: The Fbi And The American Indian Movement, Casey R. Kelly

Casey R. Kelly

This essay unfolds in three sections. First, I develop a theory ofrhetorical counterinsurgency and explain its refinement within theFBI as a method of threat control and management. Second, I situate rhetorical counterinsurgency within a series of migrating culturalcontexts, including the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and culturalstereotypes of American Indians. These contexts constrained theavailable interpretations of Indian, as well as non-Indian radicalism andjustified the application of techniques of counterinsurgency. Finally,I offer a rhetorical analysis of both the FBI’s use of communicativetactics as a method of counterinsurgency as well as the content of theirrhetorical constructions of AIM. I investigate two disarming …

Zizek/Questions/Failing, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

In this article I am primarily concerned with presenting Slavoj Žižek3 as a legal theorist. Žižek has been a valuable contributor to critical theory and deserves a place in the pantheon of legal thinkers.

While his diverse writings are often relegated to other disciplines, they also position him as an important contributor to law and public discourse. I seek to illuminate how he mediates and interrogates the law by demonstrating how his scholarship is important to the lives of legal thinkers, questions of success and the law, capitalism, political practice, and terrorism. Because Žižek’s work is interdisciplinary and expansive, this …

Enregistering Style, Barbara Johnstone

Barbara Johnstone

No abstract provided.

Some Personal Reflections On Rhetoric And Interdisciplinary, Barbara Johnstone

Barbara Johnstone

No abstract provided.

Conceptualizing And Measuring White House Staff Influence On Presidential Rhetoric, Justin Vaughn, José Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

Scholars have debated extensively the impact of presidential rhetoric on public opinion and congressional behavior, but have largely ignored the determinants of what the president actually says. This inattention is partly the result of the difficulty of acquiring systematic observations of presidential speech crafting. We devise a method of quantifying White House staff influence over the composition of rhetoric that captures the multistage negotiations between the president's speechwriters and his policy advisors and provides a framework for future studies on the determinants of presidential rhetoric. We employ our method to study influence over the writing of President George H. W. …

“No Problem, Mon”: Strategies Used To Promote Reggae Music As Jamaica’S Cultural Heritage, Stephen A. King, P. Renee Foster

Stephen A. King

This paper examines efforts by the Jamaican government and its surrogates to control the Rastafarian movement and reggae music. Since the 1970s, the Jamaican establishment has employed an adjustment tactic, co-optation, to transform reggae music and Rastafari into a cultural attraction. In recent years, however, Rastafarian images and reggae have become increasingly important in the promotion of Jamaica’s tourist industry. The Jamaican government and its supporters have marketed the Rastafarian movement and reggae music as part of Jamaica’s “cultural heritage.” As a result, the Rastafarian movement has declined as a political and social force in Jamaica. In sum, reggae and …

Henry W. Johnstone's Still Unacknowledged Contributions To Contemporary Argumentation Theory, Jean Goodwin

Jean Goodwin

Given the pragmatic tum recently taken by argumentation studies, we owe renewed attention to Henry Johnstone's views on the primacy of process over product. In particular, Johnstone's decidedly non-cooperative model is a refreshing alternative to the current dialogic theories of arguing, one which opens the way for specifically rhetorical lines of inquiry.

Wigmore's Chart, Jean Goodwin

Jean Goodwin

A generation before Beardsley, legal scholar John Henry Wigmore invented a scheme for representing arguments in a tree diagram, aimed to help advocates analyze the proof of facts at trial. In this essay, I describe Wigmore's "Chart Method" and trace its origin and influence. Wigmore, I argue, contributes to contemporary theory in two ways. His rhetorical approach to diagramming provides a novel perspective on problems about the theory of reasoning, premise adequacy, and dialectical obligations. Further, he advances a novel solution to the problem of assessing argument quality by representing the strength of argument in meeting objections.

The Co-Optation Of A ‘‘Revolution’’: Rastafari, Reggae, And The Rhetoric Of Social Control, Stephen A. King

Stephen A. King

No abstract provided.

Linguistic Strategies And Cultural Styles For Persuasive Discourse, Barbara Johnstone

Barbara Johnstone

No abstract provided.