ERIC Number: EJ965107
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1057-0314
EISSN: N/A
The Rhetorical Plasticity of the Dead in Museum Displays: A Biocritique of Missing Intercultural Awareness
Gorsevski, Ellen W.; Schuck, Raymond I.; Lin, Canchu
Western Journal of Communication, v76 n3 p314-332 2012
Using rhetorical analysis in the form of an autoethnographically informed biocritique, this study applies and expands the concept of rhetorical plasticity to examine the popular museum exhibit "Bodies: The Exhibition," which is arguably the most controversial of a series of contemporary museum exhibits that feature deceased human bodies that have been plasticized and entertainingly displayed for public viewing in museums in cities worldwide. We investigate how rhetorical tropes, such as biological and health discourses that pleasantly effuse reason, and fun action poses, operate synergistically to invite audiences into a forgetting of cultural awareness and personal biography in exhibits that display unknown Chinese bodies to Western audiences.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Human Body, Non Western Civilization, Death, Plastics, Audience Response, Museums, Exhibits, Ethics, Audiences, Rhetoric, Cultural Awareness, Rhetorical Criticism, Violence, Power Structure, Personal Autonomy, Models, Moral Values, Human Dignity, Social Attitudes, Ethnography, Interpersonal Competence, Cultural Context, Recreational Activities, Leisure Time, Program Design, Educational Experience, Controversial Issues (Course Content)
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Adult Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A