Rhetoric CFPs & TOCs

Rhetoric CFPs & TOCs
Photo: Kristoffer Trolle (creative commons)

Thursday, June 30, 2016

"Assign Yourself a Role for Each Event"

(This CFP Blog will be on vaycay from July 1-3, while the blogger is at Con-Vergence, the three days a year he doesn't think about rhetoric once, ever.  This is cross-posted from his other blog, The Peak Performing Rhetorician, which includes a ton of professional development advice and reflective writing.  Happy Holiday!)

A key to networking is knowing who you are, who you are supposed to be, in an event. Robison (in The Peak Performing Professor) raises this as a question in Chapter 12, "Engage Others," in a way which inspires autobiographical thinking on my part.

1996ish:  Eater of Food I remember the first time I attended a national communication conference.  Friday and Saturday nights at this conference, major programs host receptions that help recruit new graduate students, recruit faculty, and keep alumni invested in the success of the program.  There is often free food and drink.  My first year at this conference, in 1996 (I am guessing), my role was "to consume enough food and drink not to have to buy dinner." (I wasn't on the market for a new program, or a job, and I wasn't alum yet.)
At the reception of my own program, I had a slightly better sense of my role:  to meet alumni and prospective students and say good things about my program.  But even then, I waited for that to happen to me, instead of seeking that role out. 
1999ish Presenter of Papers For the next three years or so, at national and regional conferences, I thought that my role was to present:  to stand up in front of a room of anywhere from three to thirty strangers and present research.  That role is essential to getting institutional support (travel funding) to attend the conference, but in many ways, presenting is the least significant role, the least significant labor, you can do at the conference.  
2000ish Asker of Questions By about five years into conference attendance, I realized that asking questions at other people's presentations was at least as powerful as presenting, and would often get me an invitation to the lobby bar to talk about research, to share my project and to connect with colleagues. 
2002ish  Active Participant in the Community of Scholars By six years in, I was attending pre-conferences and valuing those as the most significant portion of the conference -- these were my people, sharing my interests, and interested in advancing our common project.  I became more and more aware of my role as someone looking for a community and advancing a community project.  I started attending smaller and smaller conferences, looking for points of intersection between my work and the work of my colleagues.  Smaller and smaller conferences were more likely to result in proceedings, which advance my career even more than presenting a paper, too.
I'm not suggesting that I should have been where-I-was in 2002 when I started in 1996.  But I probably should have reflected more on my role as time passed.  Hopefully, if you are just starting your career, you can see where you fit on this spectrum of roles, and maybe you can add another one to my list.

“Philosophy Through Fiction” short story competition.

http://dailynous.com/2016/06/30/competition-philosophy-short-story/

To encourage philosophical engagement with the public, the American Philosophical Association (APA) is funding a “Philosophy Through Fiction” short story competition. 

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Book Announcement The Politics of the Superficial: Visual Rhetoric and the Protocol of Display

Book Announcement

The Politics of the Superficial: Visual Rhetoric and the Protocol of Display

The University of Alabama Press has published The Politics of the Superficial as part of its Rhetoric, Culture, and Social Critique Series. You should buy it. Then you should read it. My son’s friend points out that you can also check it out from a library and then read it. So maybe ask your library to buy it. Then lots of folks can read it. What’s it about?

The Press says: “By examining graphic design—as a profession, practice, and academic field—as the nexus for understanding visual display in public culture, The Politics of the Superficial develops two arguments about contemporary visual communication practices: first, that the study of visual communication privileges visual content at the expense of other dynamics, such as context; and second, that interpretations focusing on content conceal the most persuasive and subversive dimensions of the visual.

Wide-ranging and stimulating, The Politics of the Superficial ultimately posits that, far from serving as a communal oasis for public imagination, contemporary visual culture offers the possibility for politically engaged communication and persuasion while simultaneously threatening the health of public discourse by atomizing its constituent parts. It will serve as a vital contribution to the field of visual rhetoric.”

A reviewer says: "The book is tightly argued and well written. I felt engaged as though in a dialectic with it; I would mentally pose objections only to have the author address them nearly immediately in subsequent arguments. This is a fine book."

The author’s mother says: “This is what you’ve been working on for all these years?”

You can order through the University of Alabama Press website or where fine books are sold. http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Politics-of-the-Superficial,6422.aspx

New Book Communication and the Global Landscape of Faith

New Book Announcement

Communication and the Global Landscape of Faith. Edited by Adrienne Hacker Daniels. Foreword by Ronald C. Arnett. Lexington Books, 2016.

In light of more recent conversations about religion and its import as a factor in the global geopolitical and cultural spheres, augmented by the "contracting" of relationship among people and nations, Communication and the Global Landscape of Faith highlights geographical, architectural, and a partial issues as significant and edifying dimensions of the study of communication and religion. Insights are gleaned through the prism of the philosophical, built, performative, political, and intercultural landscapes.

Introduction: Communication, Landscape, and Faith Adrienne E. Hacker Daniels Part One: The Philosophical Landscape Chapter 1: From Here to Eternity: The Scope of Misreading Plato's Religion Mark A. E. Williams Chapter 2: The Equivocal Tao of "Nature": I.A. Richards, C. S. Lewis, and the Heresy of Coalescence Steven L. Reagles

Part Two: The "Built" Landscape Chapter 3: Building a House of Worship One (Agnostic) Platform at a Time Jeffrey Bogaczyk Chapter 4: The Tourist Gaze and the Church: Megachurch as Tourist Site Annalee R. Ward Chapter 5: Sanctuar(ies) for Sanctuary: A Rhetorical Analysis of Berlin's The House of One Adrienne E. Hacker Daniels

 Part Three: The Performative Landscape Chapter 6: Salvation on the Wicked Stage: Charles Grandison Finney, Aimee Semple McPherson, and the Legacy of Faith Performance in American Revivals Bradley W. Griffin Chapter 7: Pope Francis's Semiotic-Ethotic Conversion: Visual Humility, Metonymy, and Religious Mimesis Christopher J. Oldenburg Chapter 8: Identification and Unity: Easter Celebrations in the Holy Land Barbara S. Spies Chapter 9: The Public Work of Faith in Senegal: The Y'en a Marre Movement, the Marabouts, and Interfaith Cohesion Devin Bryson

Part Four: The Political Landscape Chapter 10: Virtues as a Horizon for Intercultural Understanding: The Roles of Faith and Nationality L. Ripley Smith Chapter 11: Rhetorical Tapestry: Mandela, Messianism, and Faith as a Source of Rhetorical Invention Peter A. Verkruyse Chapter 12: Human Price Tags and the Politics of Representation in Sex Trafficking: Christian Women's Missionary Discourse of the 21st Century Kirsten L. Isgro Chapter 13: All Who Do Not Lay Their Obligations on the Same Altar: Christian Privilege, Religious Diversity, and American Political Discourse Jacob Stutzman

Part Five: The Intercultural Landscape Chapter 14: "This is What God Wills": Observing Global Perspectives on the Impact of Fatalism in Health Communication Kallia O. Wright Chapter 15: "Moving Forward": The Rhetoric of Social Intervention and the Presbyterian Church in America's Cultural Outreach Mark A. Gring Chapter 16: Bringing Together and Setting Apart: Christianity's Role in the Formation of Deaf Cultural Communities in Latin America and the Caribbean Elizabeth S. Parks

To access ordering information:

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498515818/Communication-and-the-Global-Landscape-of-Faith

Reviews:

“This remarkable edited collection covers a brilliant spectrum of contexts for the role of faith in public discourse, and demonstrates the crucial need for more of the same kind of research. Each chapter seizes the reader with a sense of relevance and currency. I highly recommend this collection, in whole or in part, for anyone studying the intersection of faith and communication.” — J. Matthew Melton, Lee University

Call for papers: Rhetoric Review Symposium on Frederick Douglass

Call for papers: Rhetoric Review Symposium on Frederick Douglass

Rhetoric Review, a scholarly interdisciplinary journal of rhetoric, publishes in all areas of rhetoric and writing and provides a professional forum for its readers to consider and discuss current topics and issues. The journal publishes manuscripts that explore the breadth and depth of the discipline, including history, theory, writing, praxis, philosophy, professional writing, rhetorical criticism, cultural studies, multiple literacies, technology, literature, public address, graduate education, and professional issues. Rhetoric Review periodically publishes special symposiums devoted to important issues in rhetorical theory, the history of rhetoric, and analysis of discourse within its social context.

Symposium Theme: Special Symposium in January 2018 issue: “Reflection on Frederick Douglass’s Rhetorical Legacy on the Bicentennial of His Birth”

The runaway Maryland slave who rose to become one of the nation’s leading reformers, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was primarily and perhaps most importantly a public communicator whose transformative power emerged from his powerful oratory and eloquent writing. Nineteenth-century Americans recognized him for the power of his public speaking, and his oratory was always at the center of his work as a political activist and agitator. The 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass’s birth provides occasion for a careful reconsideration of Douglass’s rhetorical legacy—both his written work such as autobiographies and editorials as well as his acclaimed oratory.

The organizing theme for the essays in this symposium will be an examination of Frederick Douglass’s importance to the history, present, and future of rhetoric and composition studies. Collectively these essays will make a case for Douglass’ long-standing and continued significance both for rhetorical studies and for our interdisciplinary connections to race studies, protest and social movement studies, performance studies, and the like. As such, this symposium invites scholars and teachers of rhetoric to consider the ways Frederick Douglass’s rhetorical contributions and excellence continues to shape and animate contemporary conversations about public address, social justice, rhetorical education, public deliberation, and other salient topics to rhetoric and composition studies.

Symposium Special Editors:

John R. Kaufman-McKivigan, Mary O’Brien Gibson Professor of American History, IUPUI, is the editor of the Frederick Douglass Papers. An expert on the U.S. abolitionist movement, Kaufman-McKivigan has authored or edited twenty-four books, including the Yale University Press’s forthcoming new edition of A Critical Edition of the Oratory of Frederick Douglass.
Jonathan Rossing, Associate Professor and Department Chair of Communication Studies, Gonzaga University, studies the rhetoric of race and racial discourse in U.S. public culture. His scholarship and rhetorical criticism works at the intersection of rhetoric, critical race theory, critical pedagogy, and humor scholarship.

Proposal Submission Instructions:

Deadline for proposal submissions: August 1, 2016.

Prospective authors should submit a detailed abstract of no more than 500 words that outlines your research plans. We encourage you to contact the symposia editors in advance of submitting a proposal for advice on whether this symposia is the right venue for your research.

Please send your questions and proposals directly to:

John R. Kaufman-McKivigan, jmckivig@iupui.edu

Jonathan Rossing, rossing@gonzaga.edu

Final Manuscript Preparation, Submission, and Timeline:
Authors will have until April 1, 2017 to prepare a complete draft of their symposium article. Kaufman-McKivigan and Rossing will collect those initial drafts, review them for conformity to the journal’s style, request any needed corrections from authors, and review the final article drafts. They will submit the entire manuscript of the symposium to the editor of Rhetoric Review, who might request further revisions. The goal of this timetable is complete all preparation of the symposium in time for publication in 2018 when public as well as scholar interest in Frederick Douglass will be at a peak thanks to the bicentennial of his birthday.

Each essay should be between 4,000 and 5,000 words (inclusive of references and footnotes) and be prepared according to the guidelines of the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2nd ed.). All material should be double-spaced and placed in the following order: title page, text, notes, works cited, appendixes, tables, and figures. All manuscript pages, including the tables and figures, should be numbered. Tables and figures (illustrations) should not be embedded in the text, but should be included as separate sheets or files. A short descriptive title should appear above each table with a clear legend and any footnotes suitably identified below. Authors are responsible for all statements made in their work and for obtaining permission from copyright owners to use a lengthy quotation (exceeding the limits of fair use) or to reprint or adapt a table or figure published elsewhere.

CFP-Popular Leisure in a Digital Age (Special Edition of Leisure Sciences)

CFP-Popular Leisure in a Digital Age (Special Edition of Leisure Sciences)

Dear All,

Please see the CFP (below) for a special issue of Leisure Sciences on Popular Leisure in a Digital Age. Papers are dueAugust 31st. This may be of interest to those of you whose scholarship focuses on popular digital leisure spaces (think YikYak, Facebook, Instagram, online dating, fantasy football, reality TV, etc.).

In alignment with the subject matter, we are encouraging and open to "non-traditional" forms of data representation/article formatting (think memes, emojis, an article written as a Twitter feed, performance pieces, mash-ups, comics, YouTube videos, etc.). Therefore, if you have a piece you have been itching to write/record/design that does not fit a typical written journal format, this might be a great home for your work.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions.

Many Thanks,

Callie Spencer Schultz, Ph.D  & Janet McKeown Ph.D.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Leisure Sciences is seeking manuscripts for an upcoming special issue on Popular Leisure in a Digital Age

GUEST EDITORS: Janet K. L. McKeown, University of Waterloo and Callie Spencer Schultz, Eastern Washington University

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 31, 2016

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In 2008, Sharpe and Lashua guest-edited a special issue of Leisure/Loisir that encouraged leisure scholars “to tune into” popular leisure as an important area of study. In their special issue, they illustrated how the relationship between pop culture and leisure is highly contextualized, complex, multifaceted, nuanced, and deeply rooted in power relations, yet, they acknowledged their work only began to scratch “the surface of what might be construed (and contested) as ‘popular’ practices” (p. 256-257).

Now, nearly a decade later, we believe the need for leisure scholars to pay more attention to considering popular leisure preferences, practices, activities, and spaces is more relevant than ever. According to the American Bureau of Labor Time Use Statistics, the top three leisure activities that consume the majority of American leisure time (5 hours total per day) are: #1 watching TV (168 minutes); #2 socializing and communicating (39 minutes); and #3 using a computer for leisure (26 minutes). While these statistics represent the leisure trends for one country, they indicate what we suggest is a global trend in leisure preferences. The viral worldwide growth of social media sites such as Facebook (1.49 billion users) and Twitter (320 million active users, 77% in countries outside US), video sites such as YouTube (1 billion users in 70 countries and in 76 languages); and reality TV series (54 countries) exemplifies this trend. Indeed, we believe these digital forms of popula!
 r leisure can be important sources of knowing and understanding and can reveal much about our everyday lives and social worlds.

As such, this special issue of Leisure Sciences will provide a space for dialogue, debate, critique, and reflection relating to popular leisure, but with a particular focus on exploring current digital forms of popular leisure and how they can be consumed, produced, represented, and regulated. Additionally, given the growing body of leisure scholarship devoted to examining social justice issues and inequities in leisure practices and spaces, we are interested in insights linked with societal power relations (gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, age, ability, religion, etc.) that can be gleaned from a closer examination of digital forms of popular leisure. Possible popular leisure preferences, practices, activities, and spaces for inquiry for this special issue may include, but are not limited to:

o Online dating websites (eHarmony, Match, Christian Mingle, etc.) and apps (Tinder, Grindr, etc.)

o Gaming (WoW, other MMORPG)

o Virtual worlds (Second Life, etc.)

o Reality television (The Voice, The Bachelor, Flip or Flop, Basketball Wives, etc.)

o Social media (YikYak, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.)

o “Viral” YouTube videos

o eReaders (Kindles, iPads, etc.) and eBooks

o Online streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, CraveTV, etc.)

o Fantasy sports

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Authors (including those in post-doctoral positions and graduate students) are invited to submit full papers (9000 word limit) that can be based on in-depth empirical studies and/or conceptual discussions from a broad range of substantive topics that explore the interconnections between popular leisure and social justice. We are also interested in and welcoming of progressive formats for conducting and presenting new knowledge on this topic. Contributors should feel free to submit papers that embrace a wide array of approaches to conducting and representing leisure research (memes, emojis, poetry, art, comics, tweets, linked apps, graphic novels, mash-ups, videos, recorded performances, etc.) and that take up multidisciplinary perspectives (women’s studies, media and cultural studies, sociology, psychology, anthropology, education, history, economics, environmental studies, etc.). It is important to note, to be considered for the special issue authors must clearly outline !
 in the paper how their work contributes to and advances thinking in the leisure literature.

Submitted manuscripts will undergo the normal review process and should adhere to “Instructions for Authors” guidelines as outlined by Leisure Sciences. For full consideration of your proposed manuscript in this special issue, please submit papers no later than August 31, 2016 through the Leisure Sciences manuscript submission site:https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ulsc and indicate that the manuscript is being submitted for consider¬ation in the special issue.

Authors should direct questions about the special issue to:

Janet McKeown at j2mckeow@uwaterloo.ca and/or Callie Spencer Schultz at cspencer3@ewu.edu

CSSR in Toronto


From http://cssr-scer.ca/plans-for-cssr-2017-in-toronto/

Plans for CSSR 2017 in Toronto


Plan pour la SCER 2017 à Toronto

The 2017 conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Rhetoric / Société Canadienne pour l’Étude de la Rhétorique will once again be held as part of the Canadian Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. / La conférence 2017 de la Société Canadienne pour l’Étude de la Rhétorique / Canadian Society for the Study of Rhétorique se déroulera, une nouvelle fois, dans le cadre du Congrès des sciences humaines du Canada.
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Ryerson University. / Lieu: Toronto, Ontario, Université Ryerson
Date: TBA (on 3 DAYS between May 27-June 2) / Dates: à préciser (3 JOURS entre le 27 mai et le 2 juin)

Theme: “Rhetoric and Interdisciplinarity / Disciplinarity”

This year, we are especially interested in presentations that explore through research and scholarship how “rhetorical studies” has been located within or among various disciplines in Canada and abroad, historically, today, and perhaps potentially in the future. In what contexts is/was rhetoric a discipline, and/or to what degree is/was it seen as innately interdisciplinary? How is rhetoric’s inter/disciplinarity defined not only by academic politics and structures, but by broader social contexts and ideologies? What kinds of rhetorical strategies are used to articulate the relation of rhetorical studies to various other fields of study? And ultimately, why or how does its inter/disciplinarity matter? — How have certain professions, roles, communities, and projects benefited from, or suffered with or without a disciplinary/interdisciplinary study of rhetoric? How does rhetoric’s inter/disciplinarity potentially strengthen or weaken the quality, diversity, identity and visibility of “rhetorical” scholarship, education, and practice, in Canada and beyond?

Thème : « Rhétorique et Interdisciplinarité / disciplinarité »

Cette année, nous sommes particulièrement intéressés par les communications qui font état de la recherche sur la manière dont les « Ã©tudes rhétoriques » se situent au sein et au travers de différentes disciplines au Canada et à l’étranger, et ce, historiquement, aujourd’hui, et potentiellement dans le futur. Dans quels contextes la rhétorique a été/est toujours une discipline et/ou dans quelle mesure elle est/était considérée comme intrinsèquement interdisciplinaire ? Comment l’interdisciplinarité de la rhétorique est-elle envisagée, non seulement par les politiques et structures académiques, mais également dans des contextes sociaux et dans des idéologies plus larges ? Quels types de stratégies rhétoriques sont mises en Å“uvre pour articuler la relation entre les études rhétoriques et d’autres champs d’étude ? Et enfin, pourquoi cette inter/disciplinarité est-elle importante, et comment cette importance se manifeste-t-elle ? – Comment certaines professions, postes, communautés et projets ont pu tirer bénéfice d’une approche disciplinaire/interdisciplinaire de la rhétorique ? Comment ont-ils été fragilisés par cette approche ou, au contraire, par l’absence d’une telle approche ? Comment l’inter/disciplinarité de la rhétorique peut renforcer ou affaiblir la qualité, la diversité, l’identité et la visibilité des études, de l’éducation et de la pratique de la « rhétorique », au Canada et ailleurs ?
As usual, we will also welcome presentations on all topics, themes and aspects of rhetorical studies. / Les propositions relatives à tous les aspects de la rhétorique restent, comme toujours, bienvenues, et ceci, quel que soit le champ d’étude envisagé.
Call for Proposals:  to be distributed in Fall 2016, with proposals due by January 15, 2017 /Appel à propositions : diffusion prévue à l’automne 2016 ; les propositions de communications seront attendues pour le 15 janvier 2017.

Online Book about Comics

Forwarded Message:

Greeting friends,

A few weeks ago, my good friend Michelle Ann Abate (of the Ohio State University) and I finished editing something we're very proud of.

In connection with the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum's new exhibit on children's comics, we offer you seven original essays on children's comics to act as the exhibit's  catalog and companion.

The electronic book contains essays on the emergence of children's comics in the US, Calvin and Hobbes, orphanhood and superheroes, LumberjanesBone, the crossover between the editorial page and the funny pages, and Maus as a work suitable for high school students.

The essays are peer-reviewed, but we made a point of guiding the authors toward prose that would be accessible to newcomers to the field.  We hope that they'll be useful to you in your own research and teaching.

Here's a link to the host page, where you can download the pdf for free:

https://cartoons.osu.edu/children/#Table_of_Contents

And, naturally, please feel free to spread the word.

Take care,
Joe (for Michelle)

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

On Sexual Assault and Media

From:  Assault on the small screen : representations of sexual violence on prime-time television dramas by Molly Ann Magestro (Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2015]).

Picking up on the threads from the Kathryn Olson article I posted about earlier in the month:


CFP Michel Foucault’s Lectures on Governmentality, Biopolitics and Neoliberalism (Extended Deadline)

Michel Foucault’s Lectures on Governmentality, Biopolitics and Neoliberalism (Extended Deadline)

Graduate Student Summer Institute in Rhetoric and Public Culture

July 19-23 (Tuesday-Saturday), 2016 at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208

This year’s institute theme is: “Michel Foucault’s Lectures on Governmentality, Biopolitics and Neoliberalism”. We will focus on three volumes of Foucault’s lectures at the Collège de France: Society Must Be Defended (1975-76); Security, Territory, Population (1977-78); and The Birth of Biopolitics (1978-79). In these volumes, Foucault provides a complex analysis of two complimentary forms of power that circulate and shape conduct in modern societies: the disciplinary power directed at governing individual bodies and the biopower directed at governing the population. He explains how the shift towards the prominence of the biopower occurs gradually over several centuries to the present in Western societies by giving an account of changing and accumulating techniques and arts of governing (and systematic reflection about those techniques and arts) from the Christian pastorate through raison d’Etat  to liberal govermentality. This shift in focus (without erasure or!
  supplanting) from the “anatomo-politics of the human body” to “the bio-politics of populations” in these three volumes of Foucault’s lectures will be one of the main themes of this summer institute.

The institute will consist of five days of presentations and discussions led by Verena Erlenbusch (Philosophy, University of Memphis), Johanna Oksala (Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki), Keith Topper (Political Science, University of California-Irvine), and Penelope Deutscher (Philosophy, CLS, and Critical Theory, Northwestern). Each faculty member will deliver an afternoon lecture, lead a seminar discussion on selected readings (assigned in advance) the following morning, and attend a colleague’s presentation that afternoon. The overlapping format enables student and faculty participants to continue informal scholarly discussion during group lunches and dinners.

The institute is sponsored by the Center for Global Culture and Communication, an interdisciplinary initiative of Northwestern University School of Communication. The Center will subsidize transportation (up to $250), lodging (double-occupancy), and some meals (breakfast and lunch every day and two group dinners) for admitted students. Applicants should send a CV, a brief letter of nomination from their academic advisor, along with a one-page statement explaining their interest in participating in this year’s institute, to the summer institute coordinator LaCharles Ward LacharlesWard2017@u.northwestern.edu. We will adopt a policy of rolling admissions.  Priority will therefore be granted to strong applications that are submitted in a timely fashion, preferably by June 30th. All inquiries should be directed to LaCharles Ward.

This summer institute is convened by Center for Global Culture and Communication(CGCC), an interdisciplinary initiative of Northwestern University School of Communication. Dilip Gaonkar (Rhetoric and Public Culture) is the Director of CGCC.

Thanks,

LaCharles

Call for Papers: Making Sense of Election 2016

 Call for Papers: Making Sense of Election 2016

The 2016 Election has surprised politicians, political scholars, and political pundits. This two-day conference brings together political scholars and political professionals to help us to puzzle through and make sense of this potentially disrupting presidential election. Our conference will feature plenary speakers as well as competitively selected papers. We call for 500 word (or less) paper proposals on any aspect of the 2016 election, from any methodological perspective. We are especially interested in papers from undergraduate and graduate students. Please submit your 500 word proposal to Dr. Jennifer Mercieca (mercieca@tamu.edu) no later than September 1, 2016.

We are thrilled to announce our academic plenary speakers:

Dr. Julia Azari: The Mischiefs of Factions and author of Delivering the People’s Message: The Changing Politics of the Presidential Mandate. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2014.

Dr. Daniel Kreiss: author of Taking Our Country Back: The Crafting of Networked Politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama, (Oxford University Press, 2012) and Prototype Politics: Technology-Intensive Campaigning and the Data of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Dr. John Murphy: prolific rhetoric professor and scholar of the American Presidency at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Jenny Stromer-Galley: Director for the Center for Computational and Data Sciences and author of Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age, Oxford University Press.

Dr. Mary Stuckey: author of ten books, including The Good Neighbor: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Rhetoric of American Power. Dr. Stuckey will deliver the 2017 Kurt Ritter Lecture in Political Rhetoric at the conference.

We will announce our political professional speakers as soon as we have that information confirmed.

For more information like the Aggie Agora on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AggieAgora/) or follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/AggieAgora).

Monday, June 27, 2016

Call from David, your BlogDude: Merged Departments

If you are in a department which has recently merged with another unit or has resisted an attempt to merge, please email me at dbeard @ d. umn. edu


Public Understanding of Science July 2016; Vol. 25, No. 5

Public Understanding of Science
July 2016; Vol. 25, No. 5
Articles
Political implications of science popularisation strategies: Frontiers of S cience
Maureen Burns

A sociohistorical examination of George Herbert Mead’s approach to science education
Michelle L. Edwards

Partisan differences in the relationship between newspaper coverage and concern over global warming
Xiaoquan Zhao, Justin Rolfe-Redding, and John E. Kotcher

Natural versus anthropogenic climate change: Swedish farmers’ joint construction of climate perceptions
Therese Asplund

Using metaphor to translate the science of resilience and developmental outcomes
Nathaniel Kendall-Taylor and Abigail Haydon

Public opinions about human enhancement can enhance the expert-only debate: A review study
Anne M. Dijkstra and Mirjam Schuijff

What is the public’s role in ‘space’ policymaking? Images of the public by practitioners of ‘space’ communication in the United Kingdom
Marta Entradas

Public engagement with scientific evidence in health: A qualitative study among primary-care patients in an urban population
Marilyn M. Schapira, Diana Imbert, Eric Oh, Elena Byhoff, and Judy A. Shea

In-group rationalizations of risk and indoor tanning: A textual analysis of an online forum
Nick Carcioppolo, Elena V. Chudnovskaya, Andrea Martinez Gonzalez, and Tyler Stephan

Call for Papers The Comics of Alison Bechdel: From the Outside In

Call for Papers
The Comics of Alison Bechdel:  From the Outside In

“The Comics of Alison Bechdel:  From the Outside In” is a proposed volume in the series Critical Approaches to Comics Artists at the University Press of Mississippi.  This volume will contain an array of critical essays on the comics of Alison Bechdel, offering new examinations of her entire body of work.

The collection takes as its starting point the phrase “from the outside in,” and proposes to look at Bechdel from several perspectives:  Bechdel as an outsider and her changing position in the world of comix/comics and beyond; her investigation of interior life and its relationship to the outside world; and her many modes of drawing, writing, and performing queerness.  Essays from interdisciplinary perspectives are encouraged, including critical approaches from comics studies, art history, cultural studies, material culture, print culture, life writing, queer theory, trauma studies, psychoanalytic theory, history of sexuality, archive studies, and adaptation studies.

Essays that engage Bechdel in light of the following topics would be particularly welcome (although this list is by no means exhaustive or prescriptive; essays that address topics not listed here will be considered as well):

Bechdel as outsider/in from the margins:

·       alt-comix:  the world of Dykes to Watch Out For and how it changed the world of comics/comix

·       Bechdel and alternative weeklies

·       Bechdel and censorship

·       Bechdel in the classroom/Bechdel and pedagogy

·       Bechdel in the academy/the Bechdel industry

·       Bechdel the bestseller


Interiors and the outside world:

·       imagined spaces/places/objects

·       furniture and design

·       architecture

·       autography/memoir/life writing

·       trauma/mourning

·       inside the archive

·       sexuality and subjectivity


Drawing, writing, performing queerness:

·       the many modes of Alison Bechdel:  blogging, interviews, adaptation, photography, film and Hollywood cinema (the Bechdel test)

·       Bechdel and music:  popular, classical, queer

·       Bechdel and Broadway:  music, adaptation, the tradition of comics on the stage

·       Bechdel and the body:  gender normativity, butchness, bodybuilding

·       Bechdel and performativity

·       Bechdel and queer print culture

·       LGBT history and activism



Please send abstracts of at least 500 and no more than 1000 words, along with CV and contact information, to Janine Utell at janine.utell@gmail.com by December 1.

Obituary: Larry Barker

Professor Barker was not a rhetorician, but he was kind to this rhetorician early in his career.  --David

Larry Barker, a major figure in the Communication discipline, passed
away recently. I first heard of Larry's work when I was an MA student at
Michigan State in the 1960s, and was fortunate enough to teach with him
at Auburn University in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Kittie Watson,
his student and long time colleague, has written a touching tribute to
Larry and has given me permission to share it with NCA members through
CRTNET.  It is below.

Tom Steinfatt

Professor, UMiami

 --        --        --


Larry Lee Barker, Ph.D.

Born November 22, 1941

Larry Lee Barker, Ph.D., a true renaissance man with talents and gifts
spanning many unique disciplines, died on June 18, 2016 at his home in
Kingston, OK after battling cancer for two years. He was 74.

Born in Ohio, Larry was an internationally published author, consultant,
musician and educator. Larry received his Ph.D. in organizational
communication from Ohio University in 1965 and became the youngest
person awarded the distinction of full professor in the field of
Communication. He taught at Purdue, Florida State and Auburn
Universities before moving into full time consulting in 1995. A leader
in many professional associations, Larry was past president of the
International Listening Association. He held membership in the American
Psychological Association and the American Society for Training and
Development. He also served as consulting editor and editor consultant
for publishers such as: Prentice-Hall, Houghton-Mifflin Company, Allyn
and Bacon, Addison-Wesley, W.C. Brown, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

Internationally recognized as an authority on communication, listening
and nonverbal communication, Larry won numerous research and outstanding
teaching awards.  Larry wrote over 40 books and 100+ articles in both
academic and popular publications. Achieving distinction with numerous
publications, he wrote the first research-based book on listening in
1971. His Communication book is in its 8th edition. His co-authored book
Groups in Process (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000) is now in it's 7th
edition. His co-authored book, Listen Up! was published in seven
languages. He co-authored the Listener Preference Profile, Watson-Barker
Listening Test, and Advocacy-Inquiry Skills Indicator.  A collaborator
by nature, many of his books and articles are co-authored with leaders
of distinction, previous graduate students and business colleagues such
as: Bob Kibler, Gordon Wiseman, Phil Emmert, Charles Roberts, Manny
Steil, Renee Edwards, Janice Sargeant, Don Cegala, Debbie Roach,
Michelle Johnston, Loretta Malandro, Jeanine McGlade, Lisa Moore, Becky
Ripley and Kittie Watson.  Larry's legacy includes dozens of graduate
students who have gone on to build significant accomplishments of their
own.

An accomplished musician, Larry began his lifelong love of music with
his first piano lessons at age five. In high school, Larry worked at a
radio station and served as a DJ. A percussionist at heart, he also
played the guitar, mandolin, keyboards, etc. While teaching at Florida
State University, he introduced a course on the Rhetoric of Rock and
Roll and formed a traveling band known as "Larry and the Love Notes."
While a professor at Auburn University, he organized and played in the
band, Sandstone. When jamming with friends, he could easily sound like
Buddy Holly and Elvis and actually performed as an Elvis Impersonator at
an International Conference in Seattle, WA.

A serial entrepreneur, Larry opened Rainbow River Studios in Auburn, AL,
in 1975. It included both retail and wholesale jewelry as well as arts
and crafts. He studied and became an accomplished jewelry smith creating
original rings, bracelets and necklaces in silver, copper and gold.

A sought after consultant and executive coach, Larry served as President
of SPECTRA Incorporated from 1979 to 2000 and a senior consultant with
Innolect Inc., from 2000 to 2016. As a consultant, Larry facilitated
hundreds of sessions for teams ranging from line employees to top
executives spanning healthcare, banking, oil and gas, utilities,
pharmaceutical and government agencies such as U.S. Army and U.S. Air
force. His clients have appreciated his ability to combine a sharp,
focused facilitation style with a personal touch. His training and
experience in creativity and innovation allowed him the option to help
clients think "out of the box." His many honors include the Golden Quill
of Merit from the International Association of Business Communicators
awarded for a corporate communication program he developed for a Fortune
500 company. An executive coach for high level executives, one of his
achievements was being featured as an executive coach on ABC's 20/20.

Larry partnered with Kittie Watson to create Sound SPECTRA Music (SMM)
which was incorporated in 1984. SMM is a music publisher affiliated with
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). In addition to music publishing, SSM owned
Rainbow River Studios and Rainbow River Digital Music.  Larry served as
President of SSM and the Manager of Rainbow River Studios. Larry is a
Grammy nominated, Billboard Top 10 songwriter/composer and voting member
of NARAS in three categories: artist, songwriter/composer, and producer.
SSM also is affiliated with the Harry Fox Agency. He won the Cigar
Institute of America, First Place, Jingle Competition, 1985 and wrote
songs with Butch Trucks of the Allman Brothers, with Lionel Ritchie of
the Commodores and "Big Bill" Morganfield, son of Muddy Waters. One of
SSM's major properties is Bop! The Musical. Two SSM albums are available
on itunes and Amazon, as well as approximately 20 other websites: "Bop!
The Musical" and "Different Strokes."  One of his greatest pleasures was
playing the drums with his son, Bobby.

In 1984 Larry co-founded the Institute for the Study of Intrapersonal
Processes (ISIP) with Kittie Watson. He served as the Executive Director
of this nonprofit publicly supported foundation. Representative ISIP
Projects included:

-         Sustainable Legacy Research - grant awarded to Innolect Inc.
to design, administer and prepare a report to assess and make
recommendations for increasing ROI for corporate social responsibility
volunteer efforts with nonprofit partners.

-         Bozeman Senior Center - grant awarded to form the "Last Best
Geri-Actors" - - a seniors' theatre group performing readers' theatre
and musical performances at senior care facilities in Montana.

-         Friends for Alabama Children's Fund - raised funds to provide
grants for low income children without health insurance or the benefits
of social service programs. The grant was administered in cooperation
with the Alabama Department of Child Welfare.

-         Let's Keep the Music Playing - produced a record with the bass
player for the Commodores, Ron LaPread, and designed/produced a poster
signed by Auburn University Heisman Trophy winners to raise money to
award grants to children who "fell between the cracks" - i.e., children
who did not qualify for state or federal welfare programs, but needed
food, clothing and medical care.

-         It's Your Body: Check Yourself Out - grant awarded to record
and disseminate an educational video to encourage self-examination for
the early detection of breast cancer among young and minority women. The
video used the Rap format and was set to an original song for the
project.

-         Bop! the Musical - partial grant to develop and produce this
50's musical including 18 original songs. The production, including
scripts, music and advertising materials, is available to raise funds
for selected nonprofit organizations and foundations, including ISIP.

-         Native American Inter-tribe Communication - grant awarded to
enhance communication among several Native American Tribes in Arizona.
The grant led to a conference among tribes aimed at resolving long lived
disputes and conflicts among the tribes.

-         Listening Oral History Series - recording and dissemination of
listening field oral history materials to support the International
Listening Association. Among the experts interviewed for the series were
Ralph Nichols and James Brown, two pioneers in Listening research and
application.

-         Ralph G. Nichols Listening Research Award - monetary award for
the best research-based or theoretical paper presented during the
International Listening Association Conference (1986-2002).

-         James I. Brown Student Listening Research Award - monetary
award for the best research-based or theoretical student paper presented
during the International Listening Association Conference (1986 to
2002).

-         Readings in Intrapersonal Communication Processes, Roberts, C.
& Watson, K.W. - Grant awarded to write and produce the first
comprehensive book of readings about theory and research in
intrapersonal communication: Scottsdale, AZ:  Gorsuch-Scarisbrick
Publishers.

A lifelong student, Larry was committed to a spiritual practice that
combined Eastern Philosophy with Christianity. He was particularly
influenced by The Fourth Way, an approach to self-development described
by George Gurdjieff and explored more fully by P.D. Ouspensky and Marice
Nicole. Especially during the last ten years, Larry lead virtual reading
groups for those interested in their own growth and development. Two
devoted members were Faye Christensen and Catherine Weil. He lived by
the premise:
"A man who wants to awaken must look for other people who also want to
awake, and work together with them. The work of self-study can proceed
only in properly organized groups. One man alone cannot see himself. But
when a certain number of people unite together for this purpose they
will even involuntarily help one another."- G. I. Gurdjieff

Following in the footsteps of his father, Milford Barker, Larry was an
avid collector of antique cars, motorcycles, bicycles and antiques. One
of his collections included the original Bat Cycle, a series of
Studebakers ranging from a 1919 Big Six Touring to the Presidents
series, Indian Twin Motorcycle, Harley Davidson Factory Racer Motorcycle
and 1976 Avanti II.

Larry has had a variety of outside interests and excelled at whatever he
put his mind to doing. He was a masseuse, a video producer, a skilled
hypnotist and served as extras in two feature films: Norma Rae and Long
Riders. Larry enjoyed being by water, especially the ocean, and was an
avid fisherman, something he enjoyed doing with his two sons, including
both tournament bass and bill fishing. He was on the professional bass
fishing circuit for a couple of years and has written several books on
fishing.

Larry also enjoyed playing tournament blackjack. He was the 2007 Player
of the Year on the Tournament Blackjack Association's national tour.
Traveling later in life, he was hired by several cruise lines as a
mystery shopper and provided written assessments of their gaming
operations. Since the late 1990s he cruised worldwide. Courageous in
life and in death, Larry focused on the blessings he received in life.
Not able to drive or read extensively with paralysis of the left side of
his face for the last two years, he pushed himself to live life well.
His wife, Tammie, devoted herself to providing him ways to relax on
short cruises between treatments. Even during chemo, he continued to
enjoy the laughter of children, listening to books on tape, playing his
favorite music and having conversations with friends and Tammie.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Milford Barker and Ruth Barker.
Larry is survived by his wife, Tammie Barker, his sons, Theodore Barker,
Niceville, FL and Robert Barker, Tallahassee, FL and grandson, Ryan
Barker of Niceville, FL. He is also survived by step-children Melanie
Gann from Lavon, TX, Spencer Brown and Justin Brown from Kingston, OK,
and 4 step-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his honor to the Institute
of Intrapersonal Processes or the scholarship in the Department of
Communication at Auburn University.

Note: This tribute was written by Kittie Watson to honor her mentor,
friend, and business partner of over 40 years.

New Book John Dowd (2016) Educational Ecologies: Toward a Symbolic-Material Understanding of Discourse, Technology, and Education. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

New Book

John Dowd (2016)

Educational Ecologies: Toward a Symbolic-Material Understanding of Discourse, Technology, and Education. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Given digital technology’s expansion of environments that teaching and learning take place, this book seeks to elucidate how both discourses and technologies themselves impact our understandings and practices of higher education. Additionally, I show how current educational movements centered primarily on new technologies are situated within broader ideological relationships among teaching, learning, notions of progress, technology, and work. I then move to analyze various strains of the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) educational movement and the primary discourses that fund them. I argue that despite the opportunities for positively transforming higher education, many iterations of the DIY movement ultimately fall short when understood through the rhetorics of neutrality, determinism, and entrepreneurialism. Thus, rather than a wholesale rejection or celebration of educational technology, it is increasingly vital that we reflect upon which changes make sense and which require adjus!
 tment.

“In this highly pertinent work, John Dowd reveals how the organizational dynamics of our symbolic-material environments have gained a foothold in the intersection of discourse and technology. With great precision and clarity, he provides a robust systematic framework that details the technological changes that confront higher education and contemporary culture. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the complex and nuanced relationships between discourse, technology, and culture.” —Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University, former president of the Media Ecology Association

“In this artfully crafted book, Dowd sets his sights on the pretensions, promises, and perils of recent innovations in higher education. Using the conceptual lens of ‘ecologies of action,’ Dowd provides a robust and profoundly engaging critique of the symbolic-material complex—the words and world—that shape contemporary developments in both teaching and learning in the twenty-first century. A must-read for anyone interested in diagnosing the current crisis in higher education or predicting its future opportunities.” —David J. Gunkel, Northern Illinois University

Call for Manuscripts for Co-Edited Volume on "Ethnic Media in the Digital Era"

Call for Manuscripts for Co-Edited Volume on "Ethnic Media in the Digital Era"

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR EDITED VOLUME

ETHNIC MEDIA IN THE DIGITAL ERA

The ethnic media sector is transforming and expanding in the digital era. It is a sector in the media industry that has seen considerable growth in the past decade, while many mainstream, legacy media have struggled to survive or ceased to exist. Ethnic media have gained more visibility among not only the larger media industry’s stakeholders (including marketing and advertising professionals) but also policymakers. This has been especially true in the U.S., but also in Canada, Australia, and across the European Union.

A confluence of factors is transforming and expanding this sector, including immigration generation shifts among some of the largest ethnic populations in immigrant-receiving countries, the increasing visibility of hybrid cultural, racial, and ethnic identities, the seemingly constant emergence of new media technologies, and the global political economy of media industries. New and emerging media projects are constantly adding diversity to the ethnic media sector, and simultaneously challenging established knowledge and expectations around what ethnic media are and what they look like, what roles they perform in the lives of their audiences, what the motivations of their producers are, what their relationship is with mainstream media, and what challenges they face as they strive to become sustainable operations in the digital era.

The Internet has challenged, and in many ways fundamentally changed, the way that media interact with their audiences, the modes of media production and competition, as well as established business models. Mainstream media have tried and tested a variety of approaches to effectively respond to these challenges and changes, with varying levels of success. Their successes and failures have and continue to be documented in academic and trade publications.

In contrast, we know less about ethnic media. For several years, academics and professionals involved in ethnic media have speculated that ethnic media are lagging behind mainstream media with respect to adoption of the Internet and the use of related technologies to produce and distribute content, communicate with their audiences, and develop new revenue streams. Some have argued that this is because ethnic media organizations tend to be smaller, local, and often non-profit entities, thereby lacking the technological know-how and the human and financial resources necessary to create and maintain online content. From a different perspective, others suggest that ethnic media may be protected from the challenges created by the Internet (e.g., cannibalization of offline content, new sources of competition) because, among other reasons, they are well-positioned in niche markets to provide valuable content, for which other media (traditional and new) cannot provide substitutes.

Another source of innovation and change in the ethnic media sector is the increasing participation of younger generations in media production, which is facilitated, at least partially, by new communication technologies. Although many ethnic media are founded by and for first-generation immigrants, an increasingly larger number of youth who adopt hyphenated and hybrid identities are creating a variety of online communicative spaces of their own such as Angry Asian Man and Racialicious (U.S.) and Schema Magazine (Canada). However, there is scant research on these new media projects.

To begin to address the aforementioned major gaps in the literature, an in-depth examination of continuities and changes in the ethnic media landscape around the globe in the digital era is necessary.

For this edited volume, the co-editors welcome manuscripts on an array of topics, such as:

-Digital divides and ethnic media

-Digital diasporas or cyber ethnic communities

-The impact of the digital revolution in the everyday lives of ethnic media audiences

-Youth, cultural/racial/ethnic hybridity, and media consumption and production

-Journalism, professional identity, and ethnic media producers

-Media competition and new business models in the digital era

-Ethnic-mainstream or interethnic media relations in the global media industries

-Communication policy, media law, and ethnic media in the digital era

-Minority languages, media, and media technologies

-Historical perspectives on technology and ethnic media

Theoretical essays, empirical studies, case studies, and policy-oriented scholarship on the abovementioned topics conducted in any geographical area of the world are welcomed. Scholarship pertaining to regions of the world less studied (e.g., Africa, East and South Asia, Central and South America), and that is comparative in nature, is encouraged. Work based on any theoretical perspective and methodological framework, and work by authors from all disciplines, including media and communication studies, journalism, sociology, political science, and economics, will be considered.

Deadline for abstract:

Please indicate interest by submitting a 500-word abstract  as a Word document attachment directly to Sherry Yu (sherry.yu@temple.edu) and Matthew Matsaganis (mmatsaganis@albany.edu) by August 31, 2016

Decision:

September 30, 2016

Deadline for full paper:

December 15, 2016

Publication:

Spring 2018

A few words about the Editors:

Sherry S. Yu (PhD, Simon Fraser University, School of Communication) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism, and a faculty member in the Media & Communication doctoral program at Temple University. Her research explores cultural diversity and media in relation to cultural literacy, civic engagement, and intercultural dialogue in a multicultural society, with a specific focus on ethnic media, multiculturalism, and transnational migration. Her research has been published in Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, the Canadian Journal of Communication, Canadian Ethnic Studies, and PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication.

Matthew Matsaganis (PhD, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism) is Associate Professor in the Communication Department, and Affiliate Graduate Faculty in the Department of Informatics, at the State University of New York at Albany. He is the lead author of Understanding Ethnic Media: Producers, Consumers and Societies (Sage, 2011). His research addresses issues of ethnic media consumption, production and sustainability, the role of communication in building community capacity, health disparities and the social determinants of health, as well as the social impact of technology. His research has been published in Journalism, the International Journal of Communication, the Journal of Health Communication, the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Human Communication Research, the Electronic Journal of Communication, the Journal of Information Policy, and the American Behavioral Scientist, among other scholarly journals. Matthew !
 is also a recovering print journalist. He has worked for a variety of publications in Athens, Greece, and New York City.