At the National Communication Association’s annual conference in November 2008, the following panels presented Burkean topics.
Bringing Burke Back to the Future: Contemporary Perspectives on Burke and Popular Culture
Nothingness without End: Division and Merger in 'The Believer' *Emily D. Ryalls (Univ of South Florida)
Conservation on National Geographic Channel: Agency of Dragons and Heroes *Greg Smith (University of South Florida)
(Re)imagining Morality: Gender and Sexuality in HBO's 'Big Love' and 'Rome' *Steven W. Schoen (University of South Florida)
Jay-Z's Tragic-Comic Hero Worship and Kenneth Burke *Antoine Hardy (Univ of South Florida)
This panel seeks to highlight the “unconventional legacy” of Kenneth Burke’s range of rhetorical studies. Traditionally, rhetorical discussion and application of Burke have often been limited to public address and social movements. We seek to resuscitate Burke’s imperative to find rhetoric in all sectors of society, including forms of media. Each panelist’s essay interrogates a form of contemporary popular culture to highlight the efficacy of Burkean concepts to critical discussions of media.
Divers Unconventional Subjects: Competitive Papers in Burkean Criticism Session
Organizer: Jeffrey L Courtright (Illinois State University)
Chair: Bjorn Stillion Southard (University of Maryland)
Center Stage Sacrament: Father Mapple's Sermon in Moby Dick *Glenn H. Settle (Northwest Univ)
Revolutionary Symbolism in the Electronic Age: Burke and the Contemporary Communist Party *Verlaine M. McDonald (Berea College)
Economic Growth as Terministic Screen: An Essay on the Millennium Challenge Corporation *M. Karen Walker (University of Maryland)
The Perfect Victim: Pat Tillman and the Doctrine of Atonement *Luke A. Winslow (Univ of Texas, Austin)
Electoral Estrangement and Courtship by 'the Dancing of an Anecdote': Burkean Identification Strategies in Presidential Debates *Christopher J. Oldenburg (Univ of Memphis)
Respondent: James F. Klumpp (University of Maryland)
Enriching Our Understanding of Burkean Rhetoric through Explorations of the Pentad, Terms for Order, and Identification in Four Recent Books
Judging the Supreme Court: Constructions of Motives in Bush v. Gore *Clarke Rountree (Univ of Alabama, Huntsville)
Rhetorical Landscapes in America: Variations on a Theme from Kenneth Burke *Gregory Clark (Brigham Young Univ)
Chair: Clarke Rountree (Univ of Alabama, Huntsville)
Four authors of recent books using Burke's concepts of the pentad, terms for order, and identification describe their appropriations of these concepts in monograph-length studies. They consider the advantages of these lengthier treatments to realize the potential of these critical concepts for enriching our understanding of a Burkean rhetoric.
Unconventional Burke: Bodies that . . .
The Body’s Profundity *Richard H. Thames (Duquesne University)
Ruminating upon Action and Motion: Kenneth Burke, John Stewart, and Phenomenology *Corey Anton (Grand Valley State Univ)
Eating of My Dog's Bowl: Burke and Phenomenology on Animal Bodies *Erik Garrett (Duquesne University)
Action-Motion Redux: Regulating Bodies through Rhythmic Rituals *Joshua J. Frye (SUNY Oneonta)
Reasoning Bodies and Rational Minds: On the Intersection of the Sensory and Sentential in Burke *Lenore Langsdorf (Southern Illinois Univ, Carbondale)
Respondent: Bryan Crable (Villanova University)
Chair: Erik Garrett (Duquesne University)
This unconventional panel takes seriously what it means to be “bodies that learn language.” Panelists investigate the intersections between Burke’s philosophical anthropology and biology, arguing that the body holds a position equal to or even more important than language in the Burkean opus. Therefore, the panel will feature the philosophy of biology which is central to Burke but often ignored by most Burkeans.
Unconventional Criticism: Advancing Burkean Concepts through Critical Application
Session Organizer: Jeffrey L Courtright (Illinois State University)
Chair: Luke A. Winslow (Univ of Texas, Austin)
Casuistic Stretching and Misidentification in the Rhetoric of Intelligent Design *Anna Turnage (North Carolina State University)
Transforming Citizenship Ironically: Burke's Master Tropes and Henry Highland Garnet's Sermon in the House of Representatives, 1865 *Bjorn Stillion Southard (University of Maryland)
Toward a Metonymic Reading of Kenneth Burke’s Entelechial Principle *Kristyn E. Meyer (Univ of Texas, Austin)
Pure Persuasion as Burkean Mise-en-Abime *Les Belikian (California State University, Northridge)
Respondent: James W. Hikins (College of Wooster)
Variations on 'The Cult of the Kill': Burkean Analyses of Contemporary Issues
Session Organizer: Jeffrey L Courtright (Illinois State University)
Chair: Kristyn E. Meyer (Univ of Texas, Austin)
Stop Genocide Now! What is in a Word, that Calls for Change but Lacks the Action? *Matthew C. Maddex (Louisiana State University)
Root Causes of Conflict and the Climate Culprit: A Dramatistic Analysis of Ban Ki Moon’s Editorial on Darfur *Billie J. Murray (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill)
Confronting Hate Speech: A Rhetorical Criticism of 'Playboy' Magazine's Interview of George Lincoln Rockwell *Steven F. Rafferty (Univ of Southern California)
Burke, Terministic Screens and Orientations: An Analysis of Female Genital Cutting Debates in Egypt and the United States *Diana M. Winkelman (Univ of Southern California)
Variety Is the Unconventional Spice of Life: Kenneth Burke Society Top Papers
Session Organizer: Jeffrey L Courtright (Illinois State University)
Chair: Hollie D. Petit (Colorado State University)
Refurbishing Psychoanalysis for Rhetorical Analysis: Burke’s Dramatistic Transformation of Freudian Terministic Screens *Yun Ding (Tennessee Tech Univ)
Alembicating Kenneth Burke's Concept of Recalcitrance *Floyd D. Anderson (SUNY, Brockport), *Lawrence J. Prelli (Univ of New Hampshire), *Matthew T. Althouse (SUNY, Brockport)
Testing Positive for a Concealable Identity: Rhetorical Identification as an Invitation to Cope *Jennifer A. Malkowski (San Diego State Univ)
Ethical Responsibility? Appeals to Scene, Agency, and Agent as the Denial of Ethical Choice in Bush’s Embryonic Stem Cell Addresses *Veronica Koehn (University of Denver)