Oct 262015
 

rhetoric_and_citizenship

I just don’t understand why we have to talk about every mode of belonging as some kind
of citizenship. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m interested in people’s practices of
resistance. I’m interested in people’s practices of belonging. […] I’m interested in people’s practices of world-making.  — Karma Chavez

I’m increasingly persuaded by those who argue citizenship is a toxic concept and a toxic term. When I do talk about folks who appeal to citizenship, I’m very aware of how often those appeals to citizenship are built on the constitutive exclusions of others, and that if we really want to mobilize a productive, an emancipatory sense of civic obligation and of civic duty, we’ve got to figure out a way to do it without buying into a privileging conception of citizenship.  — Cate Palczewski

In Episode 29, we extend a conversation from the 2015 RSA Summer Institute Seminar on Rhetorics of Citizenship. Karrieann Soto and Kate Siegfried host the discussion with co-seminarians Karma Chavez and Cate Palczewski. The episode asks that we critically question rhetorics of citizenship in our scholarship and in daily life. For a full transcript, click here.

Jul 162013
 

In Networking Arguments, Rebecca Dingo enacts a feminist transnational rhetorical analysis of global policies and conferences that are about women’s role in a global economy. Focusing on three rhetorical commonplaces—gender mainstreaming, fitness, and empowerment—Dingo extends traditional rhetorical analysis to account for how arguments shift rhetorically as they are networked. Our conversation begins by us discussing the differences between the three feminist transnational terms Dingo uses to explain exactly how rhetorics shift: transcoding, ideological trafficking, and interarticulation. As we talk about gender mainstreaming—the development of policies that are intended to promote gender equality and women’s best interests—and women’s empowerment, we discuss how transcoding, ideological trafficking, and interarticulation offer different nuanced ways that these well-intending rhetorics shift and are distorted.

An image of Dingo's book cover: Networking Arguments. A night image of people standing on the sidewalk at Times Square.

Networking Arguments: Rhetoric, Transnational Feminism, and Public Policy Writing

Episode 10 features CCR student Kate Navickas interviewing Rebecca Dingo. A follow-up to the transnational feminism panel held in March (which you can listen to here), Dingo discusses both the theoretical and practical concepts highlighted in her book, Networking Arguments.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 10

The music sampled in this podcast is Yacht’s “We Have All We Ever Wanted,” “Emo Step Show” by Custodian of Records, and “Golden” by High Places.

Apr 122013
 

From a feminist perspective, what does it mean to live a rhetorical life in a globalized world? Why is a feminist perspective productive for 2013? What are important sites and lived spaces in which we need to be rhetorical? How do you bring a feminist perspective that highlights a transnational world into your teaching, your administrative duties, your service work, your field commitments, personal life, and your activism? How do you locate transnational issues and sites that are important? And finally, how do you enact a feminist transnational method?

On March 22nd, the CCR Graduate Circle hosted our first live-recorded podcast event:  “Feminist Perspectives on Living a Rhetorical Life in a Transnational World.” To facilitate this conversation, we invited a range of diverse speakers with different areas and levels of expertise on transnational feminism and rhetorical studies. Participants in the panel included Rebecca Dingo, Dana Olwan, Anna HensleyTim Dougherty, and Eileen Schell.

Image of "transnational" woman's face.

“Feminist Perspectives on Living a Rhetorical Life in a Transnational World.” Image created by Seth Long.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 7.

The music sampled in this podcast is “Stay the Same” by Bonobo.

 

 

 

 

 

Feb 012013
 

In the first part of this keynote address from Syracuse University’s Conference on Activism, Rhetoric, and Research, Minnie Bruce Pratt discussed shifting definitions of what it means to be an activist and a feminist, considering the rhetoric we use to talk about change and action. In this second part of her address, Minnie Bruce considers what research has to do with change, with the connection between words and action, the connection between symbolic representation and material realities.

Minnie Bruce Pratt (image by Leslie Feinberg)

Minnie Bruce Pratt (image by Leslie Feinberg)

Episode 2 is part two of Minnie Bruce Pratt’s keynote address. To listen to part one, visit the previous post.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 2.

The music sampled in this podcast is “On Children” by Sweet Honey in the Rock.

 

 

Jan 182013
 

The following audio comes from Syracuse University’s inaugural Conference on Activism, Rhetoric, and Research (CARR). In this keynote, Minnie Bruce Pratt—a lesbian writer and white, anti-racist activist—wrestles with questions raised by Chilean poet and revolutionary Pablo Neruda. How are words related to action and to our moment in history? What do words like “change” and “action” have to do with us if we’ve never thought of ourselves as activists? And if we have been activists for many decades, what happens if we consider again the words we use?

Minnie Bruce Pratt at May Day 2012 (image by Ashley Sauer)

Minnie Bruce Pratt at May Day 2012 (photo by Ashley Sauers)

Episode 1 is part one of Minnie Bruce Pratt’s keynote address. To listen to part two, please visit the next post.

To read a PDF of the full transcript, please download it here: Transcript for Episode 1.

The music sampled in this podcast is “On Children” by Sweet Honey in the Rock.