The domestication of legal argumentation: A case study of the formalism of the legal realists

This essay explores the discourse of the legal realists. The pragmatists and the legal realists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have become an important part of Anglo‐American jurisprudence. These jurists, lawyers, and legal theorists are considered to be influential legal scholars because of their critiques of transcendental, certain, and deductive proofs in legal argumentation. The essay argues that while the legal realists added to our understanding of informal logic and legal pragmatism, they nevertheless domesticated their arguments by replacing deductive formalisms with inductive formalisms.     

What Motivates Librarians to Share Knowledge?

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of social and individual factors of strength of ties, perceived benefits, extrinsic rewards, recognition, reciprocity, and perceived cost on sharability. A survey was sent to 170 librarians at special, public, and academic libraries across Kuwait; 139 responses were received for a response rate of 80%. It was found that the strength of ties and perceived benefits had a positive effect and perceived costs had a negative effect on sharability. The findings can help libraries identify the opportunities and barriers to motivate librarians to share their knowledge. This study is a useful contribution to knowledge management literature, especially concerning the library context.     

Communicating “Truth”: Testimonio,Vernacular Voices,and The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy

In this essay, the authors explore some of the communicative dimensions of the Rigoberta Menchú controversy, engaging both the textual and contextual elements of this controversy. They first provide a brief review of the Menchú case and an analysis of the criticism by her principal detractor, David Stoll. The authors then analyze the unique role that testimonio plays in Latin American discursive constructions, as well as how other discursive communities responded to the Menchú-Stoll controversy. Finally, the authors comment on the discursive importance of the Menchú-Stoll controversy, and make a case for the heuristic value of testimonio in future investigations of Latin American work in communication studies.     

Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials

EXPLORATIONS IN RHETORIC: STUDIES IN HONOR OF DOUGLAS EHNINGER Edited by Ray E. McKerrow. Editorial Committee: James R. Irvine, Donovon Ochs, Michael Osborn, Marilyn J. Van Graber. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman and Co., 1982; pp. vii + 184. $10.95.

AMERICAN RHETORIC FROM ROOSEVELT TO REAGAN. Edited with critical studies by Halford Ross Ryan. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1983; pp. xv + 309. $10.95 paper.

THE RHETORIC OF CONSERVATISM: THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF 1829–30 AND THE CONSERVATIVE TRADITION IN THE SOUTH. By Dickson D. Bruce, Jr. San Marino: The Huntington Library, 1982; pp. xxi + 218. $18.00.

THE RHETORIC OF PROTEST AND REFORM: 1878–1898. Edited by Paul H. Boase. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1980; pp. 354. $18.95.

ATTLEE. By Kenneth Harris. London: Weidenfeld &; Nicolson, 1982; pp. 630. £14.95.

SHAPING THE FIRST AMENDMENT: THE DEVELOPMENT OF FREE EXPRESSION. By John D. Stevens. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1982; pp. 156. $7.95.

POSITIVE IMAGES: BREAKING STEREOTYPES WITH CHILDREN'S TELEVISION. By Jerome Johnston and James S. Ettema. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1982; pp. 263. $10.95 paper.

GETTING TOGETHER: A GUIDE FOR GOOD GROUPS. By Em Griffin. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1982; pp. 233. $5.95.     

Melancholic nostalgia,collective memories,and the cinematic representations of nationalistic identities in indochine

This essay provides a rhetorical analysis of the French film, Indochine. The authors argue that this cinematic representation constitutes a good example of “melancholic nostalgia,” where producers and viewers used archetypal characters and romantic entanglements as a way of explaining the strengths and weaknesses of various French and “Indo‐Chinese” colonial relationships. The essay argues that the producers of the film tapped into collective longings for symbolic pasts that may never have existed. The authors conclude that Indochine should be considered as a negotiated compromise that tells us more about the needs of modern Western, French and Vietnamese audiences than it does about any “real” colonial past.     

Gendered Nationalism,the Colonial Narrative,and the Rhetorical Significance of the Mother India Controversy

The controversies surrounding Katherine Mayo's (1927 Mayo , K. ( 1927 ). Mother India . New York : Harcourt, Brace, and Company . [Google Scholar]) Mother India provides an exploration into the rhetorical dynamics of figurations that helped maintain imperial aspirations. This analysis suggests that many of the American, British, and Indian commentators who wrote about the impact of Mother India were not just making observations about the accuracy of Mayo's personal observations or the fairness of her religious characterizations; rather, these observers were often participants in much larger discursive debates about what might be called gendered nationalism—the use of paternalistic figurations that suture together particular familiar images with political critiques of oppositional movements.     

Holocaust denial debates: The symbolic significance of Irving v. Penguin & Lipstadt

This essay explores the legal and public significance of the recent British libel case of Irving v. Penguin & Lipstadt (2000). The author argues that the rhetorical dimensions of the trial were just as important as the technical, judicial issues involved in British libel cases. David Irving sued Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt for having labeled him a “Holocaust denier,”; and in the process they allegedly irreparably injured his reputation as a historian. While both the claimant and the defense argued that this case was not about the facticity of the Holocaust, the vast majority of the arguments that were presented at trial concerned that very issue. The trial may have portentous consequences because it interrogates the taken‐for‐granted collective memories of many communities.     

Tim McGirk,Parrhesiastic Rhetoric,and Mass-Mediated Representations of Haditha

This essay provides readers with a critical analysis of some of journalistic parrhesiastic framings of the Haditha “incident.” On November 19, 2005, a squad of Marines killed some 24 Iraqis in a town in the Anbar region in Iraq, and for several months many members of the press tried to compare this incident to the My Lai Massacre. The essay highlights some of the parrhesiastic strategies that were used by Tim McGirk and other critics of the Bush administration who tried to argue that Haditha may have truthfully been a revengeful “massacre” that was perpetrated by enraged Marines. These critics may have hoped that the work by Tim McGirk of Time Magazine would signal the beginning of the end of this Iraqi war, but the author argues that Haditha was recontextualized and domesticated as either lawfare or as a counterinsurgency narrative.