Welcome to ASHR

The American Society for the History of Rhetoric (ASHR) offers rhetoricians multiple points of entry and enthusiasm. It is fitting that the word “society” should lead this welcome, since rhetoricians understand better than most the importance of gathering with others for a common purpose; moreover, being a rhetorician today (as in plenty of other days) can be a dispiriting business, and sociality helps. The common purpose this particular society sustains is the study of rhetoric as a historically situated cultural practice. Accordingly, ASHR’s programming—from panels organized for its annual NCA unit, to papers given at its biennial symposia, to articles published in its journal—promotes discussion about strains and domains of rhetoric in all historical periods, cultural contexts, and theoretical guises.

Upcoming Events

ASHR at NCA 2026

Please join us for our ASHR events at NCA’s 112th Annual Convention: Move/ments in Communication, in New Orleans, LA. They include:

• Social Gathering: Friday, November 20 from 6-8pm at Café Du Monde, 800 Decatur St. Join ASHR members for informal conversation, coffee, and beignets. Drop by whenever you can!
• ASHR Panels:
  • Fri 11/20, 2:30pm: Listening to American Social Movements: Shifting Sounds of Protest in the 20th and 21st Centuries (Mardi Gras Salon B, Marriott Floor 3)
    • Lora Smith, “Labor Sounds of the Carter Family Fold Bristol Sessions”
    • Dominic Manthey, “Bringing the Sound of War Home: Vietnam Veterans Against the War’s ‘Operation Dewey Canyon III’”
    • Caroline Koons, “It’s Ok to Change your Mind: Rhetorical Legacies of Labor and Prison in 2025-2026 ICE Protest Songs”
  • Fri 11/20, 4:00pm: Place, Displacement, and Material Invention in Rhetoric and Rhetorical History (Mardi Gras Salon B, Marriott Floor 3) 
    • Wanda Fenimore, “The Need for Changing: John Henry McCray’s Multi-Modal Activism in 20^th Century South Carolina
    • Kevin Ellis, “Synecdoche as Induction and Symbol”
    • Kate Siegfried, “Exilic Rhetorics in Apartheid Era South Africa” [top paper]
    • Kathryn Higinbotham, “Extra-Illustration and the Rhetoric of Material Remix” [top student paper]
  • Sat 11/21, 9:30am: Opportune Moments as Move/ments in Communication Scholarship (Galerie 5, Marriot Floor 2)
    • This thematic panel examines kairos – theorized as opportune moments – in a digital age in relation to the conference theme of Move/ments in Communication. The panelists invite the audience to join them in considering question(s) of opportune moments and their ephemerality – what ancient Greek rhetoricians called kairos – to explore how and to what extent we can sustain, extend, or re-experience such moments of change/transformation in and with our communities.
    • Panelists:
      • Max Renner
      • Victoria Gallagher
      • Katrina Marks
      • Codey Ryan Bills
      • Aurora Bell

We will not hold our business meeting at NCA this year. Instead we will meet online on Dec 4th at 1pm EST.

---