[KB] Calling All Burkelers: 2015 RSA Summer Institute

[David Blakesley]

Posted on behalf of Jack Selzer:

Calling All Burkelers

You, Your Students, and Your Colleagues Are Invited
To the 2015 RSA Summer Institute Seminar on

*“The War of Words,” A Rhetoric of Motives, and Contemporary Rhetorical
Theory”*



led by

Jack Selzer, Penn State University

Kyle Jensen, University of North Texas

Krista Ratcliffe, Marquette University



Kenneth Burke’s *A Rhetoric of Motives* has of course been recognized as a
foundational contribution to rhetorical theory ever since its appearance in
1950. Because it expanded our collective sense of “the realm of rhetoric”
(so that we now understand science, art, and materiality as falling within
the domain of rhetoric) and because it offered the concept of
“identification” as a complement to Aristotelian categories of persuasion, *A
Rhetoric of Motives* remains the central text for everyone working out the
premises of “the new rhetoric.” And yet as widely read as it is, *RM* remains
imperfectly and incompletely understood: the details of “identification”
remain as confounding as they are intriguing, and large sections of *RM* remain
confusing or elusive.



Participants in this seminar, therefore, will work together to comprehend
*RM* and to tease out its implications for the study of contemporary
discourse. Toward that end, participants will have a chance to review and
discuss a lengthy, intriguing, recently discovered section of *RM*—called
“The War of Words”—that Burke decided to delete from his manuscript at the
last minute. Not only will the seminar leaders be sharing the contents of
“The War of Words” (an edition of it is now in preparation) but they will
also make available other archival materials which bear on *RM*, including
correspondence between Burke and his colleagues and friends J. S. Watson,
Malcolm Cowley, and Stanley Edgar Hyman (among others). Careful attention
will also be given over to an analysis of “identification” and the terms
associated with it in *RM*.



But guiding daily discussion will be participants’ own research and
individual questions. Participants will be encouraged to submit short
statements about their own questions and scholarly interests (we seek a mix
of graduate students, junior faculty, and more senior scholars), and at
least half the time will be given over to participants’ developing
projects. If things go as planned, participants will leave with a more
mature understanding of *RM* as well as invigorated individual work,
whether it be an article-in-progress, a dissertation or book chapter, or
whatever.



Given the contents of *RM* and “The War of Words,” we anticipate that the
seminar will interest, in addition to students of Kenneth Burke, scholars
working on post-World War II culture, publics theory, national identity,
rhetorical theory, rhetorics of the popular press, and listening
rhetorics. Join us!


*Applications due on October 1, 2014.*


For information on how to participate, go to the Rhetoric Society of
America Web site, or write Jack Selzer (jls25 at psu.edu)
“The War of Words,” A Rhetoric of Motives, and Contemporary Rhetorical
Theory

Seminar leaders:

Jack Selzer, Penn State University
Kyle Jensen, University of North Texas
Krista Ratcliffe, Marquette University


Kenneth Burke’s *A Rhetoric of Motives* has of course been recognized as a
foundational contribution to rhetorical theory ever since its appearance in
1950. Because it expanded our collective sense of “the realm of rhetoric”
(so that we now understand science, art, and materiality as falling within
the domain of rhetoric) and because it offered the concept of
“identification” as a complement to Aristotelian categories of persuasion, *A
Rhetoric of Motives* remains the central text for everyone working out the
premises of “the new rhetoric.” And yet as widely read as it is, *RM* remains
imperfectly and incompletely understood: the details of “identification”
remain as confounding as they are intriguing, and large sections of *RM* remain
confusing or elusive.

Participants in this seminar, therefore, will work together to comprehend
*RM* and to tease out its implications for the study of contemporary
discourse. Toward that end, participants will have a chance to review and
discuss a lengthy, intriguing, recently discovered section of *RM*—called
“The War of Words”—that Burke decided to delete from his manuscript at the
last minute. Not only will the seminar leaders be sharing the contents of
“The War of Words” (an edition of it is now in preparation) but they will
also make available other archival materials which bear on *RM*, including
correspondence between Burke and his colleagues and friends J. S. Watson,
Malcolm Cowley, and Stanley Edgar Hyman (among others). Careful attention
will also be given over to an analysis of “identification” and the terms
associated with it in *RM*.


But guiding daily discussion will be participants’ own research and
individual questions. Participants will be encouraged to submit short
statements about their own questions and scholarly interests (we seek a mix
of graduate students, junior faculty, and more senior scholars), and at
least half the time will be given over to participants’ developing
projects. If things go as planned, participants will leave with a more
mature understanding of *RM* as well as invigorated individual work,
whether it be an article-in-progress, a dissertation or book chapter, or
whatever.

Given the contents of *RM* and “The War of Words,” we anticipate that the
seminar will interest, in addition to students of Kenneth Burke, scholars
working on post-World War II culture, publics theory, national identity,
rhetorical theory, rhetorics of the popular press, and listening
rhetorics. Join us!


Questions should be directed to Jack Selzer, jls25 at psu.edu
- See more at:
http://associationdatabase.com/aws/RSA/pt/sd/news_article/89380/_blank/layout_details/false#sthash.ro7C6Pzd.dpuf
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