Modern Rhetoric Research Articles

“The Paradise of the Latrine”: American Toilet-Building and the Continuities of Colonial and Postcolonial Development

The Sanitary Hamlet Program, a rural health project intended to serve counterinsurgency goals in wartime Vietnam, focused on ending open-air defecation and instructing Vietnamese in the correct use of latrines. This program belongs within a larger arc of American nation-building cum toilet-building at home and abroad in the twentieth century; American toilet-building shared common features and served common functions from the age of formal empire through the postcolonial era. Looking beyond the rhetoric of modernization to on-the-ground practices reveals how American approaches to international development after 1945 continued to be shaped by racialized perceptions of foreign peoples. But the project was not simply the product of an American neo-colonial impulse. It was also an expression of South Vietnamese leaders’ postcolonial worldview—one that similarly targeted unsanitary peasants for hygienic reform.

Intercultural Dialogue as Rhetorical Means of Forming of Multilingual Personality

The state and conditions of functioning of the Ukrainian language and languages of national minorities in Ukraine have led us to think about finding ways to balance the complex sociolinguistic situation in the country. In this regard, it is no coincidence the direction of modern linguadidactics on communicative and functional learning of designated languages in establishments of secondary education with multiethnic contingent of students. The social role of dialogue, connected with change of socio-cultural connections and cultural codes is becoming more and more important. The forming of global human civilization, numerous transnational and interregional conflicts, need for mutual understanding, cooperation and partnership have determined the relevance of the dialogical form of communication, which has led to a deepening of dialogue not only human thinking but also its civilized existence. The dialogical thinking is necessary for overcoming ideological stereotypes, the monopoly of thought and one-sidedness of globalism, for the forming of a person who would be able to build his relationship on the basis of humanization, finding a reasonable compromise, mutual respect, and tolerance. In the context of conceptual positions of modern rhetoric, the phenomenon of rhetorical dialogue as a unit of rhetorical communication is singled out. It is worth considering the rhetorical dialogue in the prospection of a relativistic aspect of modern rhetoric, taking into account the pragmatic sense of the influence of communicators on each other in the process of harmonizing dialogue, effective and optimal communication. That's why the intercultural dialogue in the process of forming of multilingual personality is defined as rhetorical. In the giving article, the subject of the discussion is highlighting the relevance of the intercultural dialogue as rhetorical on language lessons at schools with polyethnic contingent of pupils, clarification of the main aspects of dialogic interaction of contacting cultures, analysis of groups of national and specific vocabulary for learning by pupils-polylinguals.

The transnational lives and third space subjectivities of British Nigerian girls

AbstractDrawing on ethnographic research conducted in 2012 on British Nigerian young women who have gone to boarding school in Nigeria and returned to attend university in the UK, I use the concept of third space as a heuristic device for understanding their transnational subjectivities and practices. I argue that, for some, this third space is a transgressive one in which they can craft alternative subjectivities and narratives about African culture and political economy. Applying insights from decolonial theory, I seek to build on the transgressive nature of this third space. In positioning themselves variously as Londoners, Nigerians, dual and post‐nationals, they express key features of contemporary transnational European subjectivities. Yet, parental expectations that they marry Nigerians and members of the Nigerian diaspora serve to reproduce the racial distinctions and nationalist rhetoric of colonial modernity that their third space subjectivities contest.

Islam, Puritanism, and Secular Time

Abstract This article reconsiders the legacy of American Puritanism in the context of the current controversy around “radical Islam.” The rise of Salafi jihadism has emboldened those who maintain that Islam is incompatible with Western secularity. Liberal responses to this claim frequently appeal to the United States’ allegedly Puritan past, suggesting that the United States is particularly well placed to deal with both radical Islamism and anti-Islamic prejudice because of the ecumenical pluralism that emerged from the colonial crucible of competing denominations. I interrogate this claim by reading liberal and conservative statements about Muslims in the contemporary United States alongside the writings of Roger Williams, whom many consider to be the father of American pluralism. I argue that the modern rhetoric of religious diversity mirrors the eschatological structure of Williams’s tenet of toleration, wherein Muslims are offered only temporary acceptance. In each case, the pluralism of the present is set off against an anticipated cultural homogeneity.

Lee Skinner. Gender and the Rhetoric of Modernity in Spanish America, 1850-1910 .

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Review: Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies, edited by Cinthia Gannett and John C. Brereton

Review: Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies, edited by Cinthia Gannett and John C. Brereton

“Rapt with sweet pleasure”: The Rhetoric of Dance in Sir John Davies’ Orchestra or A Poem of Dancing

This article examines the trope of dance in Orchestra or a Poem of Dancing, specifically the ways in which dance functions as a form of rhetoric and, ultimately, out-performs the seduction rhetoric of Antinous. Presented literally and metaphorically, dance as the subject of Antinous' rhetoric repels Penelope, while the image of dance that appears in Love's mirror enraptures her so strongly that she esteems the weaving and unweaving of bodies above her own weaving and unweaving of thread. This activity of chaste waiting is attended to also in metaphorical terms, as it provides a parallel with the ongoing weaving and simultaneous unweaving of Antinous' argument that Penelope should dance with him. The conclusion reached is that the verbal rhetoric of Antinous, while theoretically sound in its rhetorical characteristics and presentation, fails to sway Penelope. Ultimately, it is dance that proves the successful rhetor, as it performs eloquently and persuasively to move Penelope's mind toward accepting dance as a virtuous and noble activity, indeed moves her to be “rapt with sweet pleasure” at the sight of its measured oration. Framed in a delineation of the shared qualities of rhetoric and dance, this argument relies upon classical and Renaissance rhetoric and dance treatises, as well as the work of modern rhetoric, dance, and literature scholars.

Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies ed. by Cinthia Gannett, John C. Brereton

Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies ed. by Cinthia Gannett, John C. Brereton

Do desprezo à valorização do “portunhol”: testemunho de uma perturbadora experiência de descolonização subjetiva

Neste artigo, o objetivo compartilhar uma experincia de descolonizao subjetiva. Por isso a narrativa em primeira pessoa se imps como exigncia metodolgica, ao menos na seo testemunho. A vivncia teve implicaes importantes na trajetria acadmica e em posturas de quem escreve. O trabalho se inscreve na perspectiva terica descolonial e pretende contribuir com o aspecto menos debatido na literatura pertinente: estratgias de desprendimento da retrica da modernidade nas suas dimenses epistmica e subjetiva. Prope-se como um convite aos pares interessados nessa corrente de pensamento, para que identifiquem em suas itinerncias e vivncias, processos reveladores de transformaes, na rdua tarefa coletiva de descolonizao do saber e do ser (MIGNOLO, 2010), e possam extern-los. Tais manifestaes parecem necessrias para o pensamento descolonial faa sues efeitos na prtica, na educao, nas instituies, nas transformaes sociais necessrias a um mundo mais justo e humano.

The ‘Orientals’ Strike Back: Displacement, Diasporic Resistance, and Spatial Justice in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire

This article examines the forced migration of the Chinese community from San Francisco’s Chinatown after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. Situating this spatial struggle in the context of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century urban reforms, it reveals the discursive limits of progressivism and the rhetoric of spatial modernity that was prevalent in America. Drawing attention to the earthquake as a destructive yet revelatory moment of trans-Pacific ties, the article analyses the multi-stranded racial, spatial and material negotiations that allowed the Chinese community to manoeuvre within the structure of domination and effectively resist hegemonic discourse. It demonstrates how, in the quest for spatial justice, coalitions of Chinese elites and politicians relied on existing Sino-American trade networks as leverage for inclusion, sought financial aid from the far-flung Qing government, deployed legal assistance from conglomerations of Chinese-American lobbyists and Western-trained Chinese lawyers, and mobilised capital from wealthy Hong Kong merchants to reconstruct Chinatown from scratch.

The Changing Nature of Modernization Discourses in Documentary Films.

Argument Franco's fascist regime in Spain (1939-1975) offers the possibility of exploring the complex relationship between media communication practices and the processes of production, circulation, and management of knowledge. The regime persistently used film, and later on television, as indoctrination and disciplining devices. These media thus served to shape the regime's representation, which largely relied on the generation of positive attitudes of adherence to the rulers through people's submission and obedience to experts. This article examines the changing nature of modernization discourses and practices, as a fundamental element of the regime's propaganda strategies, and as portrayed in documentaries produced under its rule. The rhetoric of modernization involved an explicit deficit model of knowledge management, which aimed at legitimating the regime's deeds and policies in its first decades, as we shall see regarding colonial-medical documentaries produced for the official newsreel in the 1940s. However, the focus of such rhetoric, despite its enduring political aims, had to somehow open up as the relationship between experts and non-experts changed, both in epistemological and practical terms, such as in wildlife documentary films produced for television in the 1970s, the regime's last decade.

Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies. Edited by Cinthia Gannett and John C. Brereton. New York: Fordham University Press, 2016. 444 pp. $45.00 paper.

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Gender and the Rhetoric of Modernity in Spanish America, 1850–1910 by Lee Skinner

Gender and the Rhetoric of Modernity in Spanish America, 1850–1910 by Lee Skinner

Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies ed. by Cinthia Gannett and John C. Brereton

Traditions of Eloquence: The Jesuits and Modern Rhetorical Studies ed. by Cinthia Gannett and John C. Brereton

Gender and the Rhetoric of Modernity in Spanish America, 1850 - 1910

Gender and the Rhetoric of Modernity in Spanish America, 1850 - 1910

The Siren’s Children: Rethinking Postcolonial Naples

This essay repositions Naples as a postcolonial city through the lens of criminality in two literary texts: Il libro napoletano dei morti (2012) by Francesco Palmieri and L’abusivo (2001) by Antonio Franchini. As a crossroads of global cultural and economic intersections, Naples sits “in a space that extends both from Southern Europe and from North Africa” [Cavallo, Vincenzo, and Iain Chambers. 2014. Neapolitan Nights: From Vesuvian Blues to Planetary Vibes. https://www.academia.edu/5599503/Neapolitan_nights_from_Vesuvian_blues_to_planetary_vibes]. While locating the city geographically, this statement also has an ideological connotation which casts Naples as Europe’s “Other”, the place where an “Arabic exercise of violence” is arbitrarily associated with the “endemic state of lawlessness” typical of colonial and postcolonial societies [Dickie, John. 1998. Darkest Italy: The Nation and Stereotypes of the Mezzogiorno, 1860–1900. Basingstoke: Palgrave]. Criminal narratives of the city act as a magnifying lens to expose the hidden connections between the “underworld” and conventional power structures that both disrupt and reinforce the rhetoric of western-centric modernity and state–society relations in Italy. As the protagonist of Il libro napoletano dei morti puts it, a narrativization of Naples’ criminal organization, the Camorra, allows for a “discovery of the city from its forgotten corners” [Palmieri, Francesco. 2012. Il libro napoletano dei morti. Milan: Mondadori.]. By locating the city within the geographical and historical situatedness of the Mediterranean as a land of cultural crossings and intersections [Cassano, Franco. 2012. Southern Thought and Other Essays on the Mediterranean. New York: Fordham University Press.], this essay investigates the “grey areas” occupied by criminals; it offers a new perspective on the city that goes beyond the accommodational space negotiated between the “oppressor” and the “resister”. The case of postcolonial Naples constitutes a paradigmatic example of the uneven spatial dynamics affecting cities in the Global South, which encompasses and extends spatial dyads of power (colonizer/colonized, hegemony/subalternity).

Rhetoric and Style in Leopold Sedar Senghor’s “New York”

Although the nature, provenance, or function of rhetoric has been a subject of much interest and criticisms for centuries, there is no doubt that Senghor’s life experience has taught him the value of rhetoric in any persuasive discourse. Furthermore, Senghor employs classical1 and modern rhetoric in order to meet his personal and poetic objectives. In this essay, we shall discuss the poem “New York”, not only because it addresses racial issues and other injustices which are pertinent to Negritude, but because the poem illustrates Senghor’s remarkable ability to employ classical and modern rhetoric in his discourse.

The philosophy in the world today: The actuality of (alter) philosophy

This essay contains both a refection on the colonizing character of a part of Central American Philosophy and an exposition of its alternatives. The predominant philosophy reproduces the logic of “requerimiento”, masking it behind the rhetoric of salvation, modernization and revolution. This logic comes to the world in the Sixteenth Century and has been reproduced ever since through humanities and social sciences. As an alternative, we found the efforts of a thinking beyond the logic of “requerimiento” and its legitimizing rhetorics. The philosophical projects and the modes of refections by Rodolfo Kusch, in Argentina, and Carlos Lenkersdorf, in Southern México, are two models, though not the only ones, that embody an (alter) philosophy. The ongoing colonizing praxis of a “flosofía sin más” give renewed actuality to (alter) philosophiesRealidad: Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades No. 148, 2016: 113-141

Modernism, Feminism and Science Fiction: Words as Silence, Language as Rhymes by Marwa Arsanios

Abstract Words as Silence, Language as Rhymes is an artist book published in 2012 by Lebanese contemporary artist Marwa Arsanios, included in her Al-Hilal project (2011–ongoing). This project is based on an examination of the Egyptian cultural magazine Al-Hilal, and more particularly of two issues dating back to Nasser’s presidency. These praised Nasser’s ideology of Arab socialism and nationalism by highlighting technological and scientific innovations, social progress and women’s emancipation. More than half a century later, after the failure of Nasser’s policy and ideology, Words as Silence, Language as Rhymes analyses the rhetoric of modernism and its promises in the magazine. It takes a particular interest in the expression of Egypt’s dream of space conquest, and in the representation of women, and more particularly of female Algerian freedom fighters. By re-engaging and manipulating Al-Hilal’s textual and visual language, Arsanios plays with a multiplicity of temporal layers and uses the prospective potentialities of science fiction to re-imagine the modernist ideals and assert the importance of a utopian thought for the present. This article invokes Svetlana Boym’s concepts of off-modernism and nostalgia to consider Words as Silence, Language as Rhymes as a feminist historiographical critique of modernism as conveyed by Al-Hilal.

Tuning the Black Voice: Colour-Deafness and the American Negro Theatre’s Radio Dramas

In September 1945, the New York radio station WNEW engaged Harlem’s celebrated American Negro Theatre (ANT) to perform a series of weekly radio plays, beginning with Arthur Laurents’s drama The Face. It was an anomalous venture in US radio, which rarely broadcast black voices. In order to avoid controversy, WNEW attempted to regulate the political significance of the series by advertising it using language couched in the modern rhetoric of colour-blind casting. However, despite these limitations applied to their efforts, the ANT infused their performances with an unexpected challenge to the racial status quo in the country. Defying stereotypes of black aurality, they subverted expectations of how African Americans were supposed to sound. They did so by destabilizing the essentialist concept of the “black voice” and exploiting the disembodied medium of radio. This article reinstates this undervalued moment in both theatre and radio history by examining The Face in detail and considering how race functions on the radio.