[KB] CFP: 12th Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society 2025 and Film Festival

Wed Jan 22 08:58:48 EST 2025

Dear Burkelers:

I’m pleased to announce the next conference of the Kenneth Burke Society,
“Kenneth Burke, the Humanities, and Agency in the Era of AI,” an Onsite and
Virtual Inter-Conference and Film Festival. The conference will be hosted
by Clemson University from May 22–25, 2025, and allows for both onsite and
virtual participation.

We welcome proposals that focus on any Burkean subject. Proposals that
address the conference theme, “*Kenneth Burke, the Humanities, and Agency
in the Era of AI*,” are especially welcome. In addition to lively onsite
and virtual presentations, performances, exhibits, a film festival, games,
and unending conversation in the parlor, KBS 2025 will also feature a
virtual exhibition space in New Art City <https://newart.city/> that
features presentations, installations, art, and video and a virtual space
for engagement and interaction in Gather. A film production crew will film
a live theatrical and cinematic enactment of the Burkeian parlor for *The
Wordman* film. The theatrical trailer for *The Wordman* will premiere at
the conference.

The conference website is here: https://kbjournal.org/kbs25. Learn about
registration, proposal formats, and guidelines, and more. The proposal
submission portal at Submittable is here:
https://bit.ly/kbs-2025-submissions.

The proposal deadline is 1 March 2025.

*Conference Theme: Kenneth Burke, the Humanities, and Agency in the Era of
AI*

Daniel Plate and James Hutson argue that we must view AI “not merely as a
technological tool, but as a powerful extension of our symbolic lives, with
profound ethical implications” (“Reclaiming the Symbol: Ethics, Rhetoric,
and the Humanistic Integration of GAI: A Burkean Perspective
<https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1612&context=faculty-research-papers>,”
p. 69). They view AI as an extension of human symbolic action and argue for
a balanced approach to its use, which can potentially bridge the divide
between humanistic inquiry (what Burke advocates) and continuing digital
innovation. Is it possible to view AI as anything other than an adversary
of the humanities (especially since AI isn’t going anywhere soon)? Plate
and Hutson argue that it is possible to develop a more nuanced
understanding of AI by viewing this technology specifically within the
context of Burkean rhetorical theory. The LLMs that fuel generative (and
textual) AI may enable contextually coherent and persuasive or informative
predictions, so how might this generative capacity be differentiated from
what Burke calls the entelichial nature of language, our efforts to track
down the implications of a terminology (dramatism, terministic screens), or
the idea that language does our thinking for us. What might Burke have
thought of the technological, linguistically infused golems of generative
AI? How does or might generative AI transform (for better or worse) the
understanding and value of the humanities? What’s the difference between
human and AI agency? What acts might human-AI agency or agents perform?
This theme welcomes presentations that offer Burkean readings of AI, which
collectively may attest to the importance of the humanities in guiding our
ethical and creative uses of AI technology.

“I expect AI to be capable of superhuman persuasion well before it is
superhuman at general intelligence," ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman tweeted
<https://twitter.com/sama/status/1716972815960961174> on X (formerly
Twitter) in October of 2023, "which may lead to some very strange
outcomes." We welcome proposals for individual presentations, panels, flash
talks, Film Festival entry, critical AI projects installations, games,
BAHFest presentations, or seminars that explore them:

   - What strange outcomes might those be?
   - What does AI have to do with Kenneth Burke?
   - How might dramatism (Burke) differ from pattern recognition (AI)?
   - How does AI complicate our understanding of Agency? Act? Scene? Agent?
   Purpose? Attitude?
   - In what ways might generative AI and its superhuman
   persuasion/rhetoric function as a counter-statement to traditional
   principles of rhetoric?
   - For Burke, pure persuasion is a motive. Can AI simulate pure
   persuasion? Agency?
   - How does generative AI reinforce or challenge systemic racism,
   ableism, sexism, classicism, and the intersectional nature of identity and
   identification?
   - In the era of AI, why/how does rhetoric matter?

As with prior KBS conferences, we also welcome all proposals from all
disciplines—and all students and scholars of Kenneth Burke’s work.

Throughout the conference, a combination of keynote speakers, featured
presenters, and performers will explore these topics and more. Keynote
speakers will be announced in February or March 2025.

We invite proposals for individual presentations, panels, flash talks, Film
Festival entries, critical AI projects installations, games, BAHFest
presentations, or seminars exploring the above ideas and concerns.
Proposals should be submitted in Submittable HERE
<https://kbjournal.org/bit.ly/kbs-2025-submissions>. The submission window
opens January 21, 2025, and closes Saturday, March 1, 2025, at midnight
wherever you are.  Proposals for individual presentations, flash talks,
short films, critical AI projects, installations, performances, or BAHFest
presentations should be no more than 250 words. Proposals for panels with
multiple presenters may be up to 500 words. Acceptances will be announced
by March 15, 2025, or earlier.

*Film Festival*

We invite conference attendees, both in person and virtual, to submit short
films for the inaugural Kenneth Burke Film Festival. Those who wish to
participate should submit pitches of 150-200 words for their films (also
due by *March 1, 2025*). A film pitch is a brief but concise rundown of
your film: title, premise, style, and thematic relevance. The pitch doesn’t
have to completely summarize the film but should highlight a compelling
idea that connects with the theme of this year’s conference (“Kenneth
Burke, the Humanities, and Agency in the Era of AI”). Conference attendees
whose pitches are accepted will be notified by *March 15, 2025*, and
invited to submit a rough cut or trailer at the next step. For additional
details, examples, prize information, and process, check out the Film
Festival details here: https://kbjournal.org/kbs25

*Submit Proposals*

The proposal submission portal at Submittable is here:
https://bit.ly/kbs-2025-submissions. The proposal deadline is 1 March 2025.

*Conference Hosts*

   - Conference Chair: David Blakesley (dblakes at clemson.edu)
   <tjwyatt at g.clemson>
   - Program Chair: Taylor Wyatt (tjwyatt at g.clemson.edu <tjwyatt at g.clemson>)
   - Onsite Conference Coordinator: Andrew Okai (aokai at g.clemson.edu)
   - New Art City Coordinator: Eddie Lohmeyer (elohmey at clemson.edu)
   - Film Festival Coordinator: David Williams (dgwilli at g.clemson.edu)
   - Accessibility Coordinator: Ashlyn Walden (acwalde at g.clemson.edu)

*Sponsors*

Hosts, program planners, and liaisons are students and faculty in the
Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design PhD program at Clemson
University. Funding for the conference is sponsored by the Campbell Chair
in Technical Communication at Clemson, the Rhetorics, Communication, and
Information Design Program in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
at Clemson University, the Society of the Third Sophistic, Parlor Press,
and the Kenneth Burke Society.

Please share widely. If you have questions, contact any of the hosts above
or let me know!

Cheers,

Dave Blakesley
---
Campbell Chair in Technical Communication
Interim Director, Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design
<https://www.clemson.edu/caah/interdisciplinary/rcid/index.html>(PhD)
Professor of Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design
Immediate Past President of the Faculty Senate
Publisher, Parlor Press <http://www.parlorpress.com/>
he/him/his

Clemson University
616 Strode Tower
Clemson, SC 29634
765.409.2649 (cell or text)
dblakes at clemson.edu or david.blakesley at gmail.com
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