Call for Abstracts: American Society for the History of Rhetoric Symposium on “Diversity and Rhetorical Traditions

Call for Abstracts: American Society for the History of Rhetoric Symposium on “Diversity and Rhetorical Traditions”

May 31-June 1, 2018

Call for Abstracts:

The American Society for the History of Rhetoric (ASHR) invites paper proposals/abstracts to be considered for our 2018 Symposium on “Diversity and Rhetorical Traditions.” The Symposium will be held on May 31-June 1, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, immediately prior to the Rhetoric Society of America Biennial Conference.

To be considered for the Symposium, please submit a one-page, single-spaced abstract to Dr. Scott Stroud (sstroud@austin.utexas.edu) by September 30, 2017. All submissions should relate to the Symposium theme, be composed in English, stripped of author identification for peer review, and submitted as either a Word document or a PDF. For more information, visit www.ashr.org.  

Diversity and Rhetorical Traditions

Rhetoric, viewed as communicative practice or as a study of communicative practices, must be sensitive to the diversity of standpoints, races and genders, and cultural orientations. These matters have a significant practical import. Who is included in the communities or traditions of discourse we create through our persuasive endeavors, and who is excluded? What difference does difference make to our practices of persuasion, or our accounts of the various traditions of rhetoric?

This Symposium asks scholars to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of diversity within and among various rhetorical traditions. Some possible topics may be comparative in scope, engaging with differences between culturally-diverse visions of rhetoric. Other approaches may focus on diversity within a given rhetorical tradition, such as Cicero’s Roman appropriation of Greek philosophy or Confucius’s disputes with Daoist approaches to the nature of virtuous speech and action. Yet other topics may circulate around contemporary debates over diversity on the campus or in modern nation states, and what this difference in community composition means for rhetorical practices.

Papers can be historical, constructive, or comparative in nature, and can explore the theme of diversity and difference in important figures, in one or more cultures, or within rhetorical practices or events. Diversity and tension in ideas, interests, people, or cultures should be a general thread uniting the presentations at this event.

This Symposium will feature three prominent keynote speakers:

Dr. Molefi Asante (Temple University): African, African-American, and Egyptian Rhetoric

Dr. Xing (Lucy) Lu (DePaul University): Classical and Contemporary Chinese Rhetoric

Dr. Kathleen Lamp (Arizona State University): Roman Rhetoric

Supported by:

University of Texas at Austin, Departments of Communication Studies/Rhetoric and Writing

Northwestern University, School of Communication

University of Minnesota, Departments of Communication/Writing Studies

Wake Forest University, Department of Communication

Vanderbilt University, Department of Communication

Taylor and Francis

Does your department support ASHR’s efforts to further diversify the history of rhetoric? Email sstroud@austin.utexas.edu to join the list of supporters!