Several social processes guide and shape how school actors engage with high stakes state and district policies relative to mandated curriculum and instruction. In this article, we use rhetorical argumentation analysis to explore how stakeholders mobilize resources through argumentation and rhetorical appeals (logical, emotional, and…

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…

This article presents a detailed case study analysis of oral and written language expressed by Jacqueline Meyer, a teacher of elementary English Language Learners (ELL),as she struggled to navigate the current political terrain with her students. Ms. Meyer's district adopted commercial materials and increased the amount and substance of testing…

Focuses on the 1992 film "City of Joy" to examine the rhetorical strategies through which "whiteness" is enacted in popular culture. Argues that an understanding of the politics through which non-white groups are culturally marginalized simultaneously requires an examination of the politics through which whites are centered and…

Applies and tests Foucault's theories about local centers of power and knowledge by rhetorically analyzing a Minnesota Midwifery Study Advisory Group. Illustrates how knowledge may be produced/suppressed and how a rhetor may become empowered by projecting negative traits upon the "other." Demonstrates how some traditional midwives…

The events and statements surrounding the execution of Gary Gilmore are depicted as rhetorically appealing because they embody the symbolic form of power vs powerlessness. Gilmore defeated symbols of the powerful by strategically co-opting two bases of power, physical force and moral force. Warns of the dangers of rhetorical drama. (JMF)

Explores the territory of whiteness in order to map the discursive space it occupies, as the first step in the process of exposing whiteness as a rhetorical construction. Discusses some of the rhetorical strategies through which whiteness resecures its discursive space and concludes with three aspects of reflexivity that offer directions for…

Explores the multiple and heterogeneous deployment of the Other within discourses that intersect and contest each other. Shows how the 19th century discourse of "le femme orientale," which informed the Romantic critique of capitalism, was recuperated in a hegemonic manner to promote an expanding consumer culture. Discusses the colonial…

Suggests that symbolic acts of power (threats and promises) in the context of conflict resolution are within the domain of rhetorical study, and that their consideration refocuses the attention given to invention, strategic choices, and ethical questions. (PD)

Attempts by governmental powers to suspend the right to Habeas Corpus have occurred from time to time throughout English and American history. This study discusses one such successful attempt, engineered by William Pitt the Younger, then prime minister, in 1794. Pitt's success in gaining suspension of this writ and passage of the Habeas Corpus…

A rhetorical framework based on Burkean theory is used to analyze the relative success of leadership contenders in small groups in obtaining cooperation of the other members and resolving the struggle for leadership. The analyses reveal the importance of transcending symbolic divisions in leadership emergence. (JMF)

Defines and contrasts the rhetorical status (individual's and groups' potential influence in society through symbols) of some Blacks and Whites under slavery, and analyzes the more powerful forms of persuasion employed by many Blacks during and after Reconstruction. (SR)

This paper examines the conspiracy drama which characterizes the rhetoric generated by the John Birch Society. According to the Society, "innocent" America is under direct threat from some organized external and internal force that is seeking its destruction. Members are called to react in a carefully outlined manner: (1) piece together…

Discusses Frederick Wiseman's film "High School" in terms of the audience's perspective of the following themes: power, authority, identity, alienation, sexuality, and boredom. Illustrates how these themes relate to each other to form a structure that invites rhetorical response. (JMF)

Improving the economic condition of the Negro was a fundamental concern of both W. E. B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. It was Washington's view that the Negro should be willing to perform menial tasks as a means for gaining a foothold in the economic structure. He counseled the Negro to start at the bottom. Washington's philosophy centered on…