This volumeexamines the role of rhetoric in today's culture of democratic activism. The volume takes on two of the most significant challenges currently facing contemporary rhetorical studies: (1) the contested meanings and practices of democracy and civic engagement in global context, and (2) the central role of rhetoric in democratic activist practices. In presenting a variety of political and rhetorical struggles in their specific contexts, editors Seth Kahn and JongHwa Lee allow contributors to reflect on and elaborate possibilities for both activist approaches to rhetorical studies, and rhetorical approaches to activist projects, facilitating better understanding the socio-political consequences of this work.
With contributors from widely known scholars in communication and composition studies, the collection offers practical cases that highlight how rhetoric mediates, constitutes, and/or intervenes in democratic principles and practices. It also considers theoretical questions that acknowledge profound voids in the rhetorical tradition (e.g., Western, neo-Aristotelian, liberal) and expand the horizon of traditional rhetorical perspectives. It advocates new knowledge and practices that further promote civic engagement, social change and democracy in the global context.
Activism and Rhetoric will be appropriate for scholars and students across disciplines, includingrhetoric, composition, communication studies, political science, cultural studies, and women's studies.
Examines the role of rhetoric in the culture of democratic activism. This book challenges the contested meanings and practices of democracy and civic engagement in global context, and the central role of rhetoric in democratic activist practices. It also considers theoretical questions that acknowledge profound voids in the rhetorical tradition.
"The relationship between rhetoric and civil action within a democracy has been the subject of renewed interest in the past decade or more. What role the professoriate should play, as instructors in the classroom, and as citizens is also a continuing subject of discussion. This text cuts across both issues, with scholars from communication and composition studies asking and answering questions about the nature of a rhetorical democracy, and the active engagement of professors and students in critiquing and improving civil society. The authors do not all agree with one another, but they provide, collectively, richly textured narratives about their experiences as activists." - Raymie E. McKerrow, Ohio University
"This broad vision provides a stimulating read for those who want to connect intellectual analysis to social change." - Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society
"?the collection that Kahn and Lee have put together provides a good introduction to the subject and reveals the tension between reflection and action." - CHOICE, April 2011
