Rhetorical Conflict Research Articles

The interaction and rhetorical conflict between systemic linguistics and generative linguistics

AbstractThe distinction of systemic linguistics and generative linguistics has led to more problems for systemicists than for generativists: Halliday’s theory has been widely applied but has not been adequately valued as an influential strand of functional grammars in discussions on functionalism and formalism in linguistics; Halliday recognizes Chomsky’s theoretical importance but fails to get Chomsky to respond to his questioning. By focusing on the complementarity and reconcilability of functionalist and formalist approaches to language, this paper discusses the common concerns and dialogues along with discursive differences and rhetorical conflicts between Halliday and Chomsky, and proposes that what stands between them is a difference of discourses of argumentation rather than an opposition of functionalism and formalism. It suggests a few things that at least some systemic linguists need to do in order to further interact with generative linguists who may not be interested in the systemic enterprise. It concludes that since Halliday’s social semiotic theory aims at everyday problems of living and learning, it should not be difficult for systemic linguists to solve the problem of communicating with Chomsky and his followers.

My Body, My Cells: Rhetoric and the Molecularization of the Human

ABSTRACT In September 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration held a public hearing inviting comments on the regulation of human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products. This essay uses Nikolas Rose’s concept of molecularization to show the rhetorical conflicts that emerged between lay public arguments and biomedical experts’ claims about the limits of personal autonomy, ownership, and the definition of cells and tissues as products. By analyzing how public actors negotiate the regulation of human tissues, I argue that a rhetorical account of molecularization shows how and for whom bodies are commodified and physically distributed. Through this rhetorical account of molecularization, I move between the molecular level of the body (the micro) and the situatedness of human bodies (the macro) to rethink the ways bodies are defined, even at the level of the cell.

Strained Sisterhood in the WCTU: The Lynching and Suffrage Rivalry between Ida B. Wells and Frances E. Willard

ABSTRACT This article examines the 1893 lynching and suffrage rivalry between Ida B. Wells and Frances E. Willard in the WCTU and the racial tension generated between its Black and white members on sisterhood. It uses rhetorical analysis and frame theory to illustrate that Wells’s and Willard’s rhetorical conflict is disturbingly related to the present. Finally, the article argues that patriarchy is a resilient specter that haunts womanhood.

Poetry Wars: Verse and Politics in the American Revolution and Early Republic

Poetry Wars: Verse and Politics in the American Revolution and Early Republic

Rhetorical Conflicts: Civilizational Discourse and the Contested Patrimonies of Spain’s Festivals of Moors and Christians

The title of this essay identifies a series of verbal scuffles—or “rhetorical conflicts”—that developed in the fall of 2006 within Spain’s larger culture wars. The political skirmishes coalesced around an announcement by the Popular Party (PP) to champion a class of regional festivals for U.N. designation as indispensible elements of “human patrimony.” The war of words stemmed from the PP’s politicization of cultural designations, but the celebrations in question—the fiestas of Moors and Christians common in the south of Valencia region—already generated controversy since they display “rhetorical conflicts” of a different sort: In potentially offensive fashion, the festivals present carnivalesque re-enactments of battles in the medieval “Reconquest” of Iberia by Christian armies over Islamic “Moors.” The essay situates these entangled controversies in the broader context of waves of immigration that have accompanied, or even fueled, a trans-Atlantic discourse centered on notions of a geopolitical “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West. Accordingly, the debates about the Moors and Christians festivals—like the celebrations themselves—reveal deep ambivalence about the role of Islam and of Muslims in Spain’s past and present.

Beyond Rhetoric to Understanding Determinants of Wind Turbine Support and Conflict in Two Ontario, Canada Communities

The literature concerning local opposition to wind turbine developments has relatively few case studies exploring the felt impacts of people living with turbines in their daily lives. Aitken even suggests that such residents are subtly or overtly cast as deviants in the current literature. Our mixed-methods, grounded-theory case study of two communities in Ontario, Canada provides insights about such residents though twenty-six face-to-face in-depth interviews, 152 questionnaires, and basic spatial analysis involving locals who have been living with operating turbines for several years. Despite being neighbours the communities differ on several measures including the spatial clustering of turbines. Opposition is significantly predicted by: Health, siting process, economic benefits, and visual aesthetic variables. Though a majority supports the turbines we focus on the interplay of that majority with those experiencing negative impacts, particularly related to health. We highlight an asymmetry of impacts at the local level on those who oppose turbines, which is supported by rhetorical conflict at multiple scales. The findings point to the need for greater attention to mitigating impacts, including conflict, by understanding how siting policies interact with social processes at the local level.

Altruism across disciplines: one word, multiple meanings

Altruism is a deep and complex phenomenon that is analysed by scholars of various disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, biology, evolutionary anthropology and experimental economics. Much confusion arises in current literature because the term altruism covers variable concepts and processes across disciplines. Here we investigate the sense given to altruism when used in different fields and argumentative contexts. We argue that four distinct but related concepts need to be distinguished: (a) psychological altruism, the genuine motivation to improve others’ interests and welfare; (b) reproductive altruism, which involves increasing others’ chances of survival and reproduction at the actor’s expense; (c) behavioural altruism, which involves bearing some cost in the interest of others; and (d) preference altruism, which is a preference for others’ interests. We show how this conceptual clarification permits the identification of overstated claims that stem from an imprecise use of terminology. Distinguishing these four types of altruism will help to solve rhetorical conflicts that currently undermine the interdisciplinary debate about human altruism.

Rhetorical Invention, Conflict Resolution, and Critical Awareness in Composition Instruction

This article argues for a more comprehensive application of conflict resolution principles in composition instruction. It demonstrates how the discipline of rhetoric and composition complements conflict resolution, especially through theories of rhetorical invention. It identifies three specific invention practices -- Karen LeFevre's social collective view, Carl Rogers' collaborative rhetoric, and Jim Corder's generative ethos -- and demonstrates how these strategies can improve students' critical awareness of conflicting viewpoints.

On Whether to Convert from a Rhetorical to a Psychoanalytical Pedagogy

Like psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic pedagogy is a particular way of paying attention, a way of paying attention that deflects attention away from other pedagogies' means and goals. Looking for what psychoanalysis deems the root cause of writing problems—intrapsychic conflict—foregrounds that kind of conflict, relegating to the background other kinds of conflict, such as the rhetorical. Even more than relegating, looking psychoanalytically can transform rhetorical conflict from that which initiates and helps develop discourse into that which impairs it. The case this article will make is not that it is impossible to reconcile rhetoric and psychoanalysis, only that because they can (as forms of writing instruction) contradict each other, such reconciliation is not easy.

Inventive intercourse: from rhetorical conflict to the ethical creation of novel truth

Inventive intercourse: from rhetorical conflict to the ethical creation of novel truth

The ICC -- Quo Vadis?

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has had to face many objective difficulties in its initial stage. The self-referrals by Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) pose problems. As for Uganda, the unsealing of the indictments is an achievement for the Court; however, the rhetorical conflict between the referring government and the ICC, the continued insecurity in northern Uganda and the fact that the accused commanders are not in the custody of the Ugandan authorities highlight the dependence of the ICC on the cooperation of national governments. As for the DRC, the transfer to The Hague of one of the indictees, Lubanga, is significant. Supporters of the ICC hope that this trial will help to ease many doubts about the direction of the Court, as the Tadi[cacute] case was able to do for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Security Council referral of Darfur is a mixed blessing, on a number of grounds. However, the posture of Sudanese authorities and the worsening of the situation in Darfur and eastern Chad clearly indicate that the ICC does not yet have a deterrence capability.

Theoretical approaches of the knowledge society at UNESCO

Abstract When it comes to the development of communication networks and the global information society, UNESCO is torn between its will to defend the free flow of thoughts, the pluralism of cultures, and the need for regulation of exchanges, if it wants to defend development in the most deprived countries. Behind rhetorical conflicts which mask diplomatic stakes, it seems that the organization seeks today to trace an original, but problematic, path regarding communication policies.

Cultural Fusion, Conflict, and Preservation: Expressive Styles Among Chinese Canadians

In this study, multicultural literature served as a site for Chinese Canadians to explore the interplay between their dual cultural backgrounds. After reading a story written by a Chinese Canadian author, participants were invited to imagine a dialogue between two characters with whom they identified, allowing the exploration of different aspects of their bicultural selves. Systematic examination of their dialogues, using cluster analysis of recurrently expressed dialogical themes, revealed four distinct expressive styles (Rhetorical Conflict, Imperative Conflict, Active Narration, and Embodied Reconciliation), each revealing a different bicultural stance. Both the rhetorically probing and explicitly imperative styles of expression reflected a fusion of Chinese and Canadian expectations regarding confrontation, although in different ways each also facilitated the maintenance of a conflictual cultural hierarchy. Active, but distanced, narrative description reflected the preservation of a collective sense o...

Time of Deliberation and Space of Power: Athens and Rome, The First Conflict

The conflict between Greece and Rome is one of modern history’s first international conflicts. Writing in the second century AD, Ælius Aristides views it as a discursive, linguistic and rhetorical conflict. Essentially, it can even be described as a conflict between silence and rhetoric. Rome, unique voice of Empire, is, in being a complying, fine-tuned orchestra, even more silent– and may be seen as prefiguring our contemporary notion of consensus and our version of globalisation? Athens talks, debates, and retains the notion of the political as continuous creation of dissent. Hence Athens – or rhetoric – is victorious even when conquered.

The Flapper and the Fogy: Representations of Gender and Age in the 1920s

In the 1920s in the United States, public attention was riveted on the antics of a new, rebellious younger generation. Although popular representations focused on youth in crisis, these representations emphasized comparisons between young and old. This article explores the public discussions about youth culture in the 1920s and how they helped to refine cultural categories of youth and old age. In addition, through gender-specific representations, social commentators worked out new definitions of masculinity, femininity, and the relationships between the sexes. Furthermore, the rhetorical conflict between generations of Americans helped to frame important contemporary questions about national identity.

Rhetorical Power, Accountability And Conflict In Committees: An Argumentation Approach*

The general aim of the paper is to shift interest in group communication in organizations in general and in committees in particular away from a prescriptive and rationalistic view detached from the organizational context towards a more analytical approach which takes account of important organizational issues of conflict, power and accountability. The paper outlines a theoretical model containing 11 propositions. The model contains definitions of rhetorical power (defined to be distinct from positional power), rhetorical accountability (defined to be different from organizational accountability for a task) and rhetorical conflict and contains 12 rhetorical variables which are language categories, and eight non‐rhetorical variables. These language categories are argumentation elements which can be identified within any committee transcript such as proposals, challenges and questions and which have been derived from previously published and validated coding schemes. The model predicts that committee members will seek to maximize their rhetorical power by using some language categories and avoiding others, and that they will seek to vary the amount of rhetorical accountability they wish to claim depending on the likely success or failure of the project being discussed. The model also predicts that the proportions of language categories within any committee transcript will change depending upon how open or hostile the committee debate is, and that the proportions of language categories will also be changed by attempts by committee leaders to reduce rhetorical conflict by using some language categories and avoiding others. Several relations between rhetorical power and rhetorical conflict are hypothesized. According to the model, rhetorical power and rhetorical conflict can be manipulated by participants in beneficial ways only under some circumstances (those which characterize an open rather than a hostile committee debate). The model is related to several important non‐rhetorical variables.

‘The dilemmas and paradoxes of public bodies performing commercial tasks’: The rhetoric of rationality and the rejection of traditional labor philosophy on the role of the state.

Abstract Traditionally a commitment to an active public sector has been a centrepiece of Labor's official thinking. Rhetorical conflict between Labor and non‐Labor has always focused upon the role of the State. The most recent instance of this was the debate between Labor and non‐Labor over the Fraser Government's Review of Commonwealth Functions (commonly known as the ‘Razor Gang'). Traditions have been changing and developing on both sides. The changes made by E. G. Whitlam have been widely discussed. Three years and as many months after the election of the first Hawke Government Labor traditions themselves are being rewritten. In this paper I shall use the policy area of the function and administration of public sector enterprises in order to demonstrate the depth and significance of this change. It has been said also that the Hawke Government has reduced politics to pronouncements from the Kirribilli Cabinet and non‐productive factional squabbling. The ‘fourth graders’ of the Hawke Government, which a...

The rhetoric of rural physician procurement campaigns: An application of Tavistock

The rhetorical critic can function as a catalyst of social change. The critic as a Tavistock consultant interprets the rhetoric of groups in the “here and now.” The rhetorical conflicts at the interface of several large groups can be reduced by the application of Tavistock principles to an intergroup consisting of delegates from the large groups. A new rhetoric replaces dysfunctional rhetoric when an intergroup understands itself in the context of large group, small group, and target group fantasy themes.

Cultures in conflict—a generic and axiological view

Government and poll data released in 1971 and late 1972 suggest that the nation remains culturally divided. Speech communication scholars have broadened the scope of rhetoric in order to more adequately describe, interpret, and evaluate this intensely moral or ethical conflict. The central purpose of this essay is to identify the different assumptions regarding decision‐making systems, interaction, and goals between the establishment and the counter culture which make the rhetorical conflicts so profound and inevitable. Generic and axiological methods are useful critical research tools for such an effort. The generic approach provides the foundation for viewing the establishment and the counter culture as distinct rhetorical genres. The axiological perspective distinguishes the major economic, political, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and philosophic value judgments used as premises for persuasion by each culture. Ultimately, a dialectic, rather than consensus, model would appear to be the most useful way ...