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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Using The 2008 Presidential Election To Think About “Playing The Race Card”, Ronald Lee, Aysel Morin Sep 2009

Using The 2008 Presidential Election To Think About “Playing The Race Card”, Ronald Lee, Aysel Morin

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Bill Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro were accused of “playing the race card” during the 2008 contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. This essay explores the different forms race cards may assume and the dangers each poses to the public dialogue. Moving away from the traditional focus on persuasive effects, the Clinton and Ferraro utterances are analyzed as argumentative discourses. Then, critical standards are promulgated for evaluating their reasonableness.


Wal-Mart’S Presentation To The Community: Discursive Practices In Mitigating Risk, Limiting Public Participation, And Developing A Relationship, Richard Buttny Aug 2009

Wal-Mart’S Presentation To The Community: Discursive Practices In Mitigating Risk, Limiting Public Participation, And Developing A Relationship, Richard Buttny

Communication and Rhetorical Studies - All Scholarship

This study examines Wal-Mart representatives’ presentation to the community on their site plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Given the on-going controversy and criticisms from local residents, it is interesting to see Wal-Mart’s strategies in attenuating these risks and negative impacts. The discursive practices found here are: formulating prior citizen complaints by a neutral-sounding, legalistic language which works euphemistically or as a gloss. Citizen concerns are fitted into a problem-solution format where the solutions involve engineering technology. The Wal-Mart representatives display their expertise through describing these technological answers. Scientific documents or tests are presented which point to counter-intuitive results. They …


The Rhetorical Dimensions Of Place-Making: Texts, Structures, And Movement In Atlantic Station, Brook Alys Irving Jul 2009

The Rhetorical Dimensions Of Place-Making: Texts, Structures, And Movement In Atlantic Station, Brook Alys Irving

Communication Theses

The suggestion that cities “speak” has become a growing interest in communication scholarship, yet the particular ways city spaces communicate remains under theorized. I argue that the intersection of people with spaces, the networks between texts, objects, and movement are all implicated in the rhetorical process of place-making in which individuals are both shaped by and shaping space. I envision this process to involve three interdependent modes of symbolization: textual constructions about place, symbolic activities of place, and movement and action in space. The mode of inquiry proposed here contributes to a body of scholarship interested in exploring the multiple …


Universalism In Policy Debate: Utilitarianism, Stock Issues, And The Rhetorical Audience, William D. Harpine Jan 2009

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

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Some Personal Reflections On Rhetoric And Interdisciplinary, Barbara Johnstone Dec 2008

Some Personal Reflections On Rhetoric And Interdisciplinary, Barbara Johnstone

Barbara Johnstone

No abstract provided.