Program Schedule for KBS 2025

12th Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society 2025

“Kenneth Burke, the Humanities, and Agency in the Era of AI”

Virtual Conference and Film Festival

>> Gather Landing Page: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-gather
>> New Art City Virtual Burkeian Parlor: https://bit.ly/virtual-kb-parlor

All times are Eastern

Questions During the Conference?

PDF or EPUB Versions of the Program and Flyer

Share with friends, colleagues and Burkelers everywhere, including on social media!

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Welcome Reception (6:00 pm – 7:00 pm)

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter

  • Opening remarks from KBS President
  • Introduction to conference theme and virtual spaces
  • Introduction of presenters and panels
  • New Art City tour information

New Art City Guided Tours (7:30 pm – 8:30 pm)

Hosted by Eddie Lohmeyer, Clemson University
New Art City Info Hub (overview)

Jack Selzer, Penn State University,
“Andover: Kennth Burke's Place"

Gabrielle Wilkosz, Clemson University
“Rotten with Perfection”

David Blakesley, Clemson University
“The Making of The Wordman”

Friday, May 23

New Art City and Gather Spaces Open (8 am until Sunday at noon)

Gather Landing Page: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-gather
New Art City Virtual Burkeian Parlor: https://bit.ly/virtual-kb-parlor

All times are Eastern

A: Concurrent Sessions (Friday, 8:30 – 9:45 am)

Panel A1: Burke, AI, and Rhetoric

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter

Jainab Tabassum Banu, North Dakota State University
“Whose Voice Is This? Agency, AI, and the Burkean Writer-Self”

Taylor J. Wyatt, Clemson University
“Burke, Aristotle, and Hexis in a World of Generative AI”

Anastasia Pestova, George Mason University
“Rhetorical Understanding in the Age of AI: A Burkean Framework”

Panel A2: Burke and Digital Contexts

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-statement

Emily Crum, Clemson University
“The Man Behind the Curtain: A Humanistic Inquiry Into GenAI as Terministic Screen”

Melissa McCarter
“Toward an Electric Ethnography: ‘AI-to-Hum’ Ethics of Care Rooted in Burke’s Rhetorics and Ulmer’s Electracy”

Amy Lea Clemons, Ohio State University
“’Slow down, TRACI’: Rhetorics of Perfection in GenAI’s Own Pentad”

B: Concurrent Sessions (Friday, 10:15 – 11:30 am)

Panel B1: Burke and Identity

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter
Chair: Andrew Okai, Clemson University

Galen R. Faison, Clemson University
“Taking on the Skin of the Other—Exploring Afrofuturism, Piety and Perspective through Second-Person Narrative”

Annie Laurie (Cobalt) Nichols, Georgia Southwestern State University
 “Identifying with AI: Moving Beyond the Other”

Camille Lewis, Furman University
“In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad): Dolly Parton as Burkean Comedian”

Panel B.2 Cooking Through Burke’s Kitchen: Identity, Technology, and Regional Rhetoric in Contemporary Food Culture

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-statement
Chair: Felix T. Nyikwagh, Clemson University

Drew Stowe, Anderson University
“From Kitchen to (Terministic) Screen: A Burkean Analysis of ‘Celebrity’ Chefs, Culinary Literacy, and Digital Age Implications”

Josh Herron, Clemson University
“Generative AI and Online Food Cultures”

C: Concurrent Session (Friday, Noon – 1:15 pm)

Panel C1: Counter-Statement’s Centennial

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter

Jarron Slater, Brigham Young University
“Kenneth Burke and ‘The Constants of Humanity’: Preparing for Counter-Statement’s Centennial in the Age of AI”

Discussion and development of an edited volume celebrating the 2031 centennial of Counter-Statement to be published by Parlor Press. The CFP will be released during this session.  Attendees can prepare by reading Counter-Statement, or at minimum, especially “Preface to the First Edition,” “Preface to the Second Edition,” “Psychology and Form,” “The Poetic Process,” “The Status of Art,” “Program,” “Lexicon Rhetoricae,” “Applications of the Terminology,” “Curriculum Criticum,” and “Addendum.”

D: Concurrent Sessions (Friday, 1:45 pm – 3:00 pm)

Panel D1: Burke, Pedagogy, and Scholarship

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter

Lucy Manley, Clemson University
“Talking to Machines: Burke & Dewey in the Classroom”

Amanda Adam, University of Ghent
“Engaging Students beyond Prompts: An Analysis of Aesthetic Pieties in Student Creations”

Chase Redd, University of Maryland
“An Incongruous Perspective: Reading Burke as a Graduate Student in the Era of AI”

Panel D2: Burke, Media, and Agency

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-statement
Chair: David Williams, Clemson University

Mary McDermott, Clemson University and DeSales University
“Eno(s), Burke’s Rhetorical Theory and What Generative Filmmaking Portends for the Future of Cinematic Storytelling”

Byron Hawk, University of South Carolina
 “Letting Go of ‘Agentness’ through Indigenous Listening”

KB Film Festival (Friday, 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm)

Film Festival, Music, Games

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter
Moderator: David Williams, Clemson University

Tyler Herrman, Clemson University
“Write Me” (Film)

Stephen Paur
“Definition of Machine” (Film)

Jana Liberato, James Madison University
“Reviving the Author: An Interdisciplinary Excavation of Rhetorical Ethics”) (Game; 3D XR experience)

Joel Overall, Belmont University
“’Sarrusophone Surrounded’: A Kenneth Burke Musical Premiere”

Open Parlor in Gather (Friday, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm)

Gather Landing Page: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-gather

  • Join the Parlor!
  • Watch Movies
    Kenneth Burke Jeopardy and Other Games

Saturday, May 24

New Art City and Gather Spaces Open (8 am until Sunday at noon)

Gather Landing Page: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-gather
New Art City Virtual Burkeian Parlor: https://bit.ly/virtual-kb-parlor

All times are Eastern

E: Concurrent Sessions (Saturday, 8:30 – 9:45 am)

Panel E1: Burke, Health, and Ethics

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter
Chair: David Blakesley, Clemson University

Rochelle Gregory, University of North Texas, Ben Sword, Tarleton University, and Marc Azard, Collin College
“Revisiting Terri Schiavo’s Death Twenty Years Later: Kenneth Burke’s Psychology of Form and the Emerging Influence of AI”

Kris Rutten, University of Ghent
“Attitudes Toward Mental Health: Cultural Narratives as Equipment for Living”

Heather Hartness, Northwest Florida State College
“From Libbie to Alexa: The Gendered History of Care and Knowledge Work”

F: Concurrent Sessions (Saturday, 10:15 – 11:30 am)

Panel F1: Burke, Transformation, and Identification

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter
Chair: Felix T. Nyikwagh, Clemson University

David Cratis Williams, Florida State University
“Special Rhetorical Operation: Putin’s Deployment of Redefinitional Tropes in Ukraine”

S. Andrew Stowe, Anderson University
“From Hero to Anti-Hero: A Burkean Analysis of Lance Armstrong’s Identity Performance and Contemporary Strongman Rhetoric”

Panel F2: Burke, Order, Space

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-statement
Chair: Christian Taylor, Clemson University

William Schraufnagel, University of Illinois Chicago
“Faith and Order in Walter Pater and Kenneth Burke”

Shiva Mainaly, University of Memphis
“The Rhetoric of Identification in the Age of AI: Affordances, Alpha Persuasion, and the Burkean Paradigm”

G: Concurrent Sessions  (Saturday, Noon – 1:15 pm)

Panel G1: Burke and Technology

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter
Chair: Victoria Banks, Clemson University

Houman Mehrabian, University Canada West, Vancouver
“Quantities of Hate: Kenneth Burke, Mechanisms of Amplification, and Digital Technology”

Frederick Fre-Ere Sunkpal, Clemson University
“Combat Robots as Symbolic Agents: A Burkean Analysis of Anthropomorphism in Human-Robot Interaction”

Lane Riggs, Clemson University
“Criminal Drones: Surveillance Technologies at the U.S.-Mexico Border”

Panel G2: Flash Talks on AI, Dreams, and Burkean Theory

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-statement
Chair: Dave Rochlin, Clemson University and UC Berkeley

John Falter, Clemson University
“The Tower: Centrality, Persuasion, and AI”

Taylor Henry, Clemson University
“Critical AI: Generating Dreams as Liminal Spaces”

Christian Taylor, Clemson University
“Spinning a Yarn: Using Twine to Tie Burkean Theory Together for Students”

H: Concurrent Sessions (Saturday, 1:45 pm – 3:00 pm)

Panel H1: “An Art of Living”: Burkean Approaches to Storytelling and Censure

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter
Chair: Victoria Banks, Clemson University

Joshua Smith, University of Nevada, Reno
“A Dramatistic Approach to Alabama Story”

Zach Kemp, University of Nevada, Reno
“Don’t Say CRT: Divisive Concept Laws as Enthymemes”

Jim Webber, University of Nevada, Reno
“Can Public Moral Argument be Comic?: Or, Walter Fisher’s Missed Encounter with Burke”
Cody Hunter, University of Nevada, Reno
“Acting out to Remake our Habits: Using Naked Lunch to Elaborate the Ambiguity of LLM Toxicity”

Panel H.2: AI, Golems, and the Undead

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-statement

Steven B. Katz, Clemson University
“What If ‘Word Man’ Were Literal? Golems, AI, and Kenneth Burke in the Diaspora of Western Philosophy”

Jared Jameson, Clemson University
“Kenneth Burke’s Meta-Biological Artifice: How the Lives of the Non-Living Have Now Forever Changed Humanity”

The Wordman Film Discussion (Saturday, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm)

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter
Chair: Christian Taylor, Clemson University

David Blakesley, Clemson University
David Williams, Clemson University

Learn about this documentary film, assets and curation, and the film treatment. Share your ideas!

New Art City Guided Tours (Saturday, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm)

Hosted by Eddie Lohmeyer, Clemson University

Jack Selzer, Penn State University
“Andover”

Gabrielle Wilkosz, Clemson University
“Rotten with Perfection”

David Blakesley, Clemson University
“The Making of The Wordman”

KBS Celebration (Saturday, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm)

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter

Jack Selzer, Penn State University
“Andover: A Guided Tour”

Plus surprises!

Open Parlor in Gather (Saturday, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm)

Gather Landing Page: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-gather

  • Parlor Games
    KB: A Conversation Screening (8:15pm start time)

Sunday, May 25

New Art City and Gather Spaces are open from 10:00 am to noon
Gather Landing Page: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-gather
New Art City Virtual Burkeian Parlor: https://bit.ly/virtual-kb-parlor

All times are Eastern

Kenneth Burke Society General Meeting (Sunday, 10:00 am – 11:00 am)

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter

All current members of the Kenneth Burke Society are encouraged to attend and be ready to nominate and approve officers.

Kenneth Burke Society Officers Meeting (Sunday, 11:00 am – Noon)

Zoom: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter

Post-Conference Festival and Pool Party, Hosted by Parlor Press

2:00 pm – until the hour grows late and we must depart.
In-person
For more details and to RSVP, see the Google form: https://bit.ly/kbs2025-festival

Directions to David and Julie Blakesley’s House/Parlor Press (20 minutes east of Clemson)

The address is:
3015 Brackenberry Drive
Anderson, SC 29621
765-409-2649 (c)

Google Maps: http://goo.gl/cM3Rn

Parking: along Brackenberry Drive, going up the hill. The driveway is large, so there are some spaces there, too.