Social rhetorics have historically and recently been criticized on ethical grounds. According to Kurt Spellmeyer, Cultural "Constructions of Knowledge" are oppressive and often lead to a betrayal of the individual, while Donald Stewart, is of the opinion that the "excesses" of social construction can lead to a police state, the…

Pointing out that the growing body of literature on the Holocaust has been accompanied by concern about how knowledge of the Holocaust may be conveyed, this paper argues that elucidating links between terminology and policy invites reconsideration of what Holocaust studies should accomplish. Close textual analysis of historical artifacts is used…

A film presented as factual may permit critical responses that question its purported factual objectivity and political neutrality. In class, Hans-Georg Gadamer's concept of effective-historical consciousness can be used to evaluate the allegedly propagandistic messages in Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will." Analysis of this 1934…