Towards an insistent and transformative racial rhetorical criticism

ABSTRACT

Racial rhetorical criticism is a scholarly project that maps the rhetoricity of race and whiteness. Emerging in and through the intellectual labor of rhetorical scholars invested in critical explorations of race, racial rhetorical criticism is necessarily nimble, attentive to the ever-shifting yet always fixed parameters of race and whiteness. In this reflection, I advance two commitments of racial rhetorical criticism that emerge across the forum: critical vulnerability and obstinate intersectionality. Together, these two intellectual practices interrupt the static force of the canon as they produce transformative inclusion.     

Film Criticism in the Twenty-First Century

Beginning with a research question that sought to discover what film criticism actually is, the article uncovers important distinctions between scholarly and practice-orientated conceptions of contemporary film criticism. Through a qualitative mixed-method approach, the article first explores the relevant scholarly literature and a sample of content carriers of film criticism before moving into fieldwork to test findings. Through the process of triangulating these data-sets emerges the motivation to create a schools approach for post-millennia film criticism. The empirical data cover North America and the United Kingdom but the findings may have explanatory potential beyond these territories. Beginning by looking at research on criticism from such prominent scholars as Noël Carrol and Terry Eagleton, a dialectic is uncovered between aesthetic evaluations and socio-political comment. These ideas are then tested in fieldwork by undertaking semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews with 30 film critics at two major international film festivals. There is a clear disconnect between scholarly ideas about criticism and two-thirds of the film critics’ conceptions of criticism in their daily routines. From this particular difference of opinion, an Academic School in comparison to Trade and Populist Schools emerges. In turn, this prompts a reappraisal of content carrier data approximated against the fieldwork data and leads to the conceptualising of additional schools: Sophisticated, Fandom and Consumer.     

“Shalom Achshav”—Rituals of the Israeli peace movement

Rhetorical critics have ignored the study of non‐western movements and have not paid serious attention to the construction of theories which help to explain and interpret the rhetorical form of movements. This study attempts to fill both voids by synthesizing concepts from rhetorical theory and anthropology to explain the linguistic process which made up the Israeli peace movement. An assessment of the rhetorical strategies, a listing of the indirect consequences of the movement, and the implications of the study to the development of rhetorical theory is provided to complete the critical act.     

White lies: a racial history of the (post)truth

In the aftermath of the 2016 election of President Trump, a veritable cottage industry of opinion pieces, blogs, and articles emerged overnight, most of which seemed to agree that only the post-truth could explain how a racist, misogynistic, neo-nationalist member of the economic elite could win a presidential election. This article, in contrast, is inspired by Barbara Christian’s injunction that we question why a given statement, concept, or theory is now acceptable when before it was not. Operating in this spirit, we critique post-truth critics for neglecting the material tradition of ideological criticism in favor of epistemological explanations for understanding post-truth literature; we then offer two case studies—American drug policy and housing policy—to illustrate the racial amnesia required for claiming that only now do we live in a post-truth era.     

An other‐burkean frame: Rhetorical criticism and the call of the other

This essay extends the work of Murray (1998), which used the philosophy of ethics of Emmanuel Levinas to critique the rhetorical theory and critical methods of Kenneth Burke. This essay evaluates that critique by analyzing Nazi propaganda and Senator Edward Kennedy's “Chappiquiddick” speech through the critical lens of a revised Burkean frame. These analyses demonstrate that an Other‐Burkean frame can supplement existing resources for rhetorical criticism and contribute to a richer understanding of human communication.     

A rhetoric of over‐reaction

The American businessmen's massive rhetorical effort aimed at the American public has been motivated and colored by the response of businessmen to criticism. Their response, manifested in their speeches, appears to inhibit meaningful public debate.     

On mythic criticism

Recently, a number of critics have applied a mythic perspective to a wide variety of works. While the value of mythic criticism cannot be questioned, the method also may be stretched to include discourse that lacks either the function or the form of traditional myth. Reliance on a narrow formal/functional definition of myth can help critics avoid this problem.     

Books: Seekers and persuaders in a brave new world

Rhetoricians have historically been compelled to consider the pragmatic role of intentional obsurity in human communication. This essay examines the highly cohesive directions for obscurantist style in the works of three Hellenistic critics: Demetrius Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Longinus. Aristides’ encomium To Rome is analyzed briefly to illustrate rhetorical practice which parallels the ancient obscurantist theories.     

Literary critics at work and their information needs: A research-phases model

This article focuses on the information needs of literary critics when producing literary criticism. A fundamental aspect of this research, the six-stage model of producing literary criticism, was developed from interviews with literary critics. Using a mail survey, the model was tested and substantiated. The research-phases model provides the context to understand the function of information at each of the identified stages of literary criticism, that is, idea generation, preparation, elaboration, analysis and writing, dissemination, and further writing and dissemination. The model is contrasted with research-phases models of other disciplines. This holistic approach, linking information functions to research stages, advances the study of information-seeking behavior in context.     

News and notes

One rhetorical strategy that has been neglected as an object of study over the years is the technique of mystification. The mystifier conceals his own motives and investments through the use of words and ideas that are ambiguous, but prestigious and acceptable. This rhetorical ploy is perhaps most evident when the powerful seek to justify their status to the weak.     

The Effect of Anticipated Future Interaction and Initial Impression Valence on Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction

This study applies the critical paradigm of “rhetorical enterprise” to the case of nineteenth‐century British reform efforts, particularly the organization and the “gospel” of the Birmingham Political Union, and concludes that cases of rhetorical enterprise challenge critics to account for the enterprising consistency of tactics and creed regardless of the relatively inconsistent factors of men andevents.     

Contextualizing musical rhetoric: A critical reading of the pixies' “Rock Music”

Rhetorical studies of popular music have privileged formalist analysis of musical score and lyrics, suggesting a need for greater inclusion of contextual factors. By explicitly attending to the rhetorical context, critics are more likely to warrant critical judgments within social and cultural discourses, reconceptualize musical texts in intertextual terms, and actively reflect on critical performance. Such a strategy is illustrated through the critical study of the Pixies’ “Rock Music,”; a song whose meaning as an anti‐anthem can be found at a nexus of rhetorical contexts, including punk taste culture, surrealist art, musical argument, post‐punk alternative rock, and anthem rock.     

Expert critics: operationalizing the judgement/decisionmaking literature as a theory of “bugs” and repair strategies

Humans are well-known for being adept at using their intuition and expertise in many situations. However, in some settings even human experts are susceptible to errors in judgement, and a failure to recognize the limits of knowledge. This happens often especially in semi-structured situtations, where multi-disciplinary expertise is required, or when uncertainty is a factor. At these times our natural ability to recognize and correct errors fails us, since we have faith in our reasoning. One way to deal with such problems is to have a computerized “critic” to assist in the process. This article introduces the concept of automated critics that collaborate with human experts to help improve their problem solving performance. A critic is a narrowly focused program that uses a knowledge base to help it recognize (1) what types of human error have occurred, and (2) what kinds of criticism strategies could help the user prevent or eliminate those errors. In discussing the “errors” half of this knowledge base, there is a difference between the expert's knowledge and his or her judgement. The focus in this article is more on judgement than on knowledge but both are addressed.To build automated critics it is important to understand the use and behavior of human critics. For this reason critic theory, principles and rules for design are described in this article. These are presented by showing various types of criticism encountered across a variety of generic tasks, such as medical diagnosis, coaching forecasting and authoring among many others. Thus a model of expert cognition and rules for identifying cognitive biases are presented. This rule base exploits four decades of literature on the psychology of judgement and decisionmaking as a generative theory of “bugs” in expert intuition and as a deep knowledge from which rules about buggy behavior are drawn. For the commonly recurring expert errors, specific preventive and corrective strategies are also reviewed and considerations for criticism presentation and deployment are explained. Particular attention is given to rules about when and how criticism should be offered. By consulting and attempting to operationalize the judgement and decisionmaking literature within the critiquing approach, this establishes criticism-based problem solving as a novel way to bridge the gap between the traditional domain knowledge-rich approaches of AI and the domain-independent, theory-rich approaches of decision analysis. Attention is also devoted to the obstacles to, and opportunities for, further bridging this gap.     

Research reports

This paper addresses the matter of method in rhetorical criticism, especially from a pedagogical viewpoint. Seven postulates are advanced as an approach to the study of criticism. A working definition of criticism as argument is posited and discussed from which is derived a specific proposal and plan for adapting the Toulmin model as a procedural base for teaching students to develop the structure of critical analyses in an orderly scheme.     

Research reports

Rowland offers a helpful synthesis of the defining characteristics of myth in rhetorical discourse. But his insistence on too rigid an approach to mythic criticism risks diminishing the importance of the critical method and impoverishing the perception of rhetorical artifacts. Root metaphors in Rowland's thinking distort the nature of rhetoric and the work of the critic.     

John Morley and the Irish question: Chart‐prayer‐dream

Attempts to circumscribe “the Burkean method” of rhetorical criticism can be frustrating. Critics more profitably might use Burke as an example and a prod, appropriating—as was done in this study—whichever of Burke's concepts, methods, and metaphors seem applicable to a given rhetorical event. Burke's “chart‐prayer‐dream” trilogy, together with his understanding of “strategies,” was employed to examine Morley's “Home Rule” speech before the Oxford Union in 1888. Morley's reply to Randolph Churchill abandoned propositional argument in favor of reviv‐alistic‐exhortation early in the speech; his strategies of form, argument, labelling, style, and mimesis are best understood as those of the High Priest seeking a confessional and an act of expiation from his auditors.     

Jedidiah morse and the bavarian illuminati: An essay in the rhetoric of conspiracy

This study examines the role of the the jeremiad in shaping public attitudes toward political dissent during the Franco‐American Crisis of 1798‐99. Attention is focused on three widely publicized sermons in which the Reverend Jedidiah Morse disclosed details of a dark conspiracy involving both domestic critics of the Adams administration and a mysterious order of European anarchists known as the Bavarian Illuminati. By framing his suspicions in the form of a jeremiad, Morse evoked a rhetorical context which portrayed the conspiracy as a divine test of American civic piety. As a result, the conspiracy provided a rhetorical justification for the condemnation of domestic political dissent on moral grounds.     

Rhetorical theory as message reception: A cognitive response approach to rhetorical theory and criticism

Traditional rhetorical theory tends to adopt the rhetor's point of view, emphasizing invention of rhetorical messages, rather than the audience's reception and interpretation of messages. The audience is ordinarily conceptualized in humanistic rhetorical theory as a target, a source of expectations to guide the rhetor's invention, a means to accomplish the rhetor's ends, or even an obstacle. We argue that a more complete view of rhetoric should include the audience as a potentially active part of the process of persuasion. Accordingly, we propose to supplement our traditional theories of rhetoric by sketching a complementary view of rhetoric as the process of an auditor's processing and responding to messages. The inspiration for this conception, Petty and Cacioppo's Elaboration Likelihood Model, is sketched, and implications for rhetorical theory and criticism are discussed.     

Beyond Buzzword Bingo: A critical examination of genre,culture, and communication

Courses: This single-class teaching activity was designed for courses on public speaking, rhetorical criticism, and critical thinking. In addition, instructors can adapt this activity for online or face-to-face courses on intercultural communication, organizational communication, listening, and political communication.

Objectives: By completing this activity, students should be able to (a) describe the principles of generic rhetorical criticism; (b) identify buzzwords associated with specific communicative contexts and genres (e.g. political debates, commencement speeches, award acceptance speeches); (c) critically examine the rhetorical significance and underlying assumptions of these buzzwords; and (d) discuss the benefits and limitations of using buzzwords in public communication contexts.     

Using Rhetorical/Relational Goal Theory to Examine College Students’ Impressions of Their Instructors

Guided by rhetorical/relational goal theory, the purpose of this study was to examine whether students’ impressions of their instructors’ credibility, attraction, and homophily are influenced by four specific rhetorical and relational communication behaviors that instructors use when communicating with their students in the classroom. Participants were 193 undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of introductory communication courses at a large mid-Atlantic university. Using a series of multiple regression analyses, it was found that (a) clarity emerged as the sole indicator of instructor competence, trustworthiness, and task attraction; (b) clarity and confirmation emerged as indicators of goodwill; and (c) humor and confirmation emerged as indicators of social attraction and attitude homophily.