The “scholar's anthology”: Contemporary rhetorical studies

This issue samples a range of theoretical and critical studies exemplifying several currents in contemporary rhetorical thought.     

The “invisible hand” of peer review: The implications of author-referee networks on peer review in a scholarly journal

Peer review is not only a quality screening mechanism for scholarly journals. It also connects authors and referees either directly or indirectly. This means that their positions in the network structure of the community could influence the process, while peer review could in turn influence subsequent networking and collaboration. This paper aims to map these complex network implications by looking at 2232 author/referee couples in an interdisciplinary journal that uses double blind peer review. By reconstructing temporal co-authorship networks, we found that referees tended to recommend more positively submissions by authors who were within three steps in their collaboration network. We also found that co-authorship network positions changed after peer review, with the distances between network neighbours decreasing more rapidly than could have been expected had the changes been random. This suggests that peer review could not only reflect but also create and accelerate scientific collaboration.     

“Wildest dreams”: the racial aura of celebrity safari

This paper deploys theories of aura to explore the celebrity safari as a mode by which famous people authenticate Africa as a distant, timeless place for a global audience. Their safari depictions create an imagined mystical locale, an aura, that imbues cult value and maintains transnational racial divides. The celebritized racial aura constructs a nostalgic paradise that sits in contrast to the many narratives of misery and privation that celebrity representation also creates. Thus aura commodifies the continent as a kind of playground for the desires of Western publics.     

Visibility and order at the Salt Lake City Main Public Library: commonplaces,deviant publics,and the rhetorical criticism of neoliberalism’s geographies

I analyze the Salt Lake City Main Public Library (SLCMPL) through archival work, textual analysis, and field methods. Through attention to the site’s mechanisms of emergence, its relationship to the city’s Public Safety Building, and movements through the building in the present, I argue the SLCMPL materializes a neoliberal orientation to commonplaces through a dual emphasis on order and visibility. The building’s design and meanings invite heterogeneous visitors to become watchful subjects, utilizing the architecture to ensure the production of an orderly public space. In making this argument, I contribute to the study of neoliberal geographies, commonplaces, and rhetorical methods.     

Richard Nixon's April 30, 1970 address on Cambodia: The “ceremony” of confrontation

This essay examines President Nixon's April 30, 1970 address announcing the American incursion into Cambodia. Examining the perceptual patterns of the speech, the authors found that Nixon's remarks led to a climax which justified the war on ritualistic rather than Cold War premises. The last third of the speech was content analyzed. The resulting term clusters were then interpreted for their symbolic significance. The authors found the President's remarks in conformity with the potlatch ceremony of the Kwakiutl Indians. The essay concludes by relating the perceptual patterns and analogical matrix of the potlatch to trends which may be developing on the international scene, and calls for the rhetorical critic to become aware of ritualistic elements in public communication.     

Diapers full of … pampered,hugged, and “luved” babies: Teaching ideological criticism through diapers

Courses: Communication Criticism, Rhetorical Criticism, Introduction to Rhetoric, Introduction to Communication, Media Studies, and Persuasion courses.

Objective: The aim of this activity is to introduce and explain the method of ideological criticism through commonplace advertising.     

The “Looking Into the Past” Photographs: Comparing and Sharing the Past

With contemporary mediated nostalgia on the rise, it is increasingly important to identify sites of past remembrance that provide potentials for a comparative and healthy engagement with our collective and individual histories. Refracted through scholarly discourse about nostalgia, this analysis focuses on one example of potentially healthy past engagement called the “Looking Into the Past” photographs – where a photographer maps a comparatively vintage image onto a contemporary picture of the exact same locale to physically and visually compare the past to the present. A deep reading of the images' textual properties elucidates how this past engagement meme encourages a healthy use of comparative histories as opposed to mainstream media texts that tend to discourage healthy historical comparison.     

The occurrence of brochantite on archaeological bronzes: a case study from Lofkënd,Albania

A technical study was conducted on a group of copper alloy artifacts excavated from the burial tumulus of Lofkënd (fourteenth–ninth century BCE) to identify the alloy compositions and methods of manufacture. The surface corrosion was also examined in order to understand the diagenetic processes affecting the preservation of the finds and their condition. Portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, metallographic examination, and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis were used to characterize the alloy composition and identify the corrosion products present. XRD analysis showed the presence of brochantite (Cu₄SO₄(OH)₆) on five of the metallic artifacts. Brochantite is not commonly reported on archaeological bronzes from terrestrial sites, but is more readily found on copper alloy objects exposed to sulfur pollutants in the air or soil. The possible conditions that could have led to the formation of this corrosion on the bronzes from Lofkënd are discussed in the context of the particular burial environment found at the tumulus.     

The political nature of the colloquialism, “a real job”: Implications for organizational socialization

This study of the colloquialism, “a real job,” challenges previous assumptions about work socialization. It extends theoretical approaches by situating the stage model of work socialization within a larger context of communication. In the current study, college students explain the meaning of the colloquialism by writing personal narratives. An interpretive analysis probes the ontology of work and the political socializing nature of the colloquialism.     

A Dialectic Analysis of a Community Forum on Faith: The “Most Segregated” or Separated Hour?

Homogeneity remains the norm in churches despite the ideal of diversity called for by leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. This incongruity prompted an analysis of a community forum convened to address racial tensions growing from a school board conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas. The phrase, “the most segregated hour in America is 11:00 A.M. on Sunday,” surfaces multiple times in relation to the homogeneity–diversity dialectic. This tension-centered analysis revealed varied functions of irony as forum participants responded to this dialectic. Major findings included (1) countering the assumption that segregation is wrong through alternation; (2) framing through transcendence based in dramatic irony; (3) relying on a personal narrative based on selection; (4) contesting the role of significant choice based in event-based irony; and (5) representing the marginalized discourse of diversity as mystery. We extend tension-centered research and theory by explicating the role of irony in opening spaces within contested discourse. Practitioners can utilize openings created by irony through enriched dialogue about identity and transcendent rituals.     

One “Nation,” Under Stephen? The Effects of The Colbert Report on American Youth

This study examines the effect of The Colbert Report, Comedy Central's mock conservative talk show, on young adults. By fashioning his character as a hyperbolic ideologue, Colbert is mocking personalities such as Bill O'Reilly. However, this study finds that when young adults are exposed to The Colbert Report's humor, they are not led to be more critical of the far right. Instead, the opposite happens, and there is an increased affinity for President Bush, Republicans in Congress, and Republican policies. Ironically, Colbert's attempts to poke fun at conservative commentators may be helping those same commentators spread their message.     

She’s Hot,for a Politician: The Impact of Objectifying Commentary on Perceived Credibility of Female Candidates

The way female politicians are discussed in traditional and new media may contribute to the way individuals evaluate those candidates. Objectification theory suggests that framing individuals in a way that reduces them to their physical characteristics is detrimental to perceived agency. To that end, an experiment was designed to determine the impact of objectifying comments on the evaluation of female candidates. Researchers created two Facebook feeds discussing a hypothetical female candidate. For both feeds, the discussion focused on the candidate’s policy credentials, with one feed containing commentary on the female candidate’s body. Aspects of credibility and suitability for office were impacted by objectifying commentary, implying the need for future research directed at the specific impact objectification has on candidate evaluation.     

The Effects of “Friend” Characteristics on Evaluations of an Activist Group in a Social Networking Context

Research suggests that individuals use cues about the popularity of a cause or group to make judgments. This bandwagon phenomenon has found particular support in online contexts. However, perceptions regarding the group may also depend on the identity of those supporters. We employed a 2 × 2 × 2 experiment to test the effect of number of affiliates and affiliate race and age on feelings toward the group, its page, and intended support. Results suggest that feelings are not subject to a consistent bandwagon effect but rather are moderated by race, with White participants exhibiting more positive feelings when seeing a page with few Black affiliates or many White affiliates. This result contrasts with findings for age, which serves to moderate only intended page use.     

President johnson's war on poverty: The rhetoric of three “establishment” movements

Movement studies typically assume that movements are insurgent campaigns for change. This assumption is challenged through a counter‐example. Implications of this analysis for theory and criticism are considered.     

“Created this way”: liminality,rhetorical agency,and the transformative power of constraint among gay Christian college students

This study offers liminality as an analytic tool to investigate the discursive strategies of the negotiation of oppositional identities. Interviews with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning Christian college students reveal appeals to essentialism, labeling, and identification. Specific findings include appeals to being “created gay,” the naming of identity labels that support and resist both traditional sexual minority and religious labels, and the deployment of a gay Christian identity as evangelism. This essay explores how disciplinary rhetorics create the conditions for the emergence of rhetorical agency, allowing for a nuanced understanding of the transformative possibilities of minority sexual identity formation.