ASHR at NCA 2020

American Society for the History of Rhetoric (ASHR) Business Meeting

Tue, 11/17: 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
Virtual Event
Room: Zoom Room 05

Business Meeting Documents:


ASHR Panels

ASHR is pleased to sponsor the following panels and papers at NCA 2020. Make sure to add these to your conference schedule—whether you’ll be attending in person or virtually.

Socialism, Liberalism, Fascism: Crossroads of Ideology
Thu, 11/19: 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Asynchronous Event

“Between Nation and World: On the ‘Singular’ Cosmopolitanism of Christopher Oscanyan,” Adam Jay Goldsmith, Northwestern University

“Fascism’s Ground Zero: A Survey of Historical Thought on Rhetorical Categories Used by Early 20th Century Italian Fascists,” Ryan Funkhouser, Trinity Western University

“The Peaceable Eugene Debs and Violent Revolt: On the Use of Threats as a Potential Means to Nonviolence,” Daniel Overton, Pepperdine University


Ancient Rhetoric at the Crossroads: Afrocentric Approaches and the Canon
Thu, 11/19: 9:30 AM  – 10:45 AM 
Virtual Event Room: Zoom Room 02

Chair: Ronald L. Jackson, University of Cincinnati

Presenter(s):
Kehbuma Langmia, Howard University
Mark C. Hopson, George Mason University
Aaron Smith, Temple University
Patrick Anderson, Grand Valley State University
Damariye L. Smith, University of Memphis
Melba Vélez Ortiz, Grand Valley State University


Inventing the History and Theory of Rhetoric (Again)
Thu, 11/19: 3:30 PM  – 4:45 PM 
Virtual Event Room: Zoom Room 03 

“Better Metaphors: Locating Rhetorical Ecologies,” Madison Jones, University of Rhode Island

“Disinventions: Rhetoric Impassing through the US/Mexico Borderlands,” José Manuel Cortez, University of Oregon

“Rhetorical Education and Collaboration in the Ruins,” Ira Allen, Northern Arizona University, Sarah Begovac, Northern Arizona University

“The Algorithmic Push, Pull, and Purge of Bad Opinions,” Caddie Alford, Virginia Commonwealth University


GPS: Changing Routes in Rhetoric’s History
Fri, 11/20: 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Asynchronous Event

“Logographic Inventions of Violent Rituals – a Rhetorical Survey of Human Sacrifice Discourse in Chinese Antiquity Oracle Bone Script Fragments,” Keren Wang, Penn State University

“Speaking Same-Sex Desires in the Old Kingdom: ‘Straight Thinking’ and Speech in Ptah-hotep’s Maxim 32,” Thomas R. Dunn, Colorado State University

“Why Was Salon Culture Favored by Feminist Rhetoricians in France and China in 17th Century?” Jianfen Chen, Purdue University

“Writing against American Indian Epistemicide: (Re)Integrating Indigenous Language into Rhetorical Theory,” Rachel Presley, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities


Her Rearview Mirror: Women Steering Rhetoric’s Past
Fri, 11/20: 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Asynchronous Event

“Sentimental Botany: Nineteenth-Century American Floral Dictionaries and Women’s Science Education,” Marissa G. Croft, Northwestern University

“The Confederate Lost Cause and the Constitution of the Confederate Woman,” Logan Sean Spence, Ohio University

“‘Escap(ing) Those Who Defined Her’: Critical Imagination and the Rehabilitation of Fulvia’s Reputation,” Kelly Williams Nagel, Penn State University


New Books in the History of Rhetoric (1 of 2)
Fri, 11/20: 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM
Zoom Link

T. Kenny Fountain for Patricia Roberts-Miller’s Rhetoric & Demagoguery

Thomas R. Dunn for Pamela VanHaitsma’s Queering Romantic Engagement in the Postal Age

Tiffany Lewis for Paul Stob’s Intellectual Populism: Rhetoric, Resistance, and the People in the Pursuit of Knowledge

Karen E. Whedbee for Susan C. Jarratt’s Chain of Gold: Greek Rhetoric in the Roman Empire

Freya Thimsen for Omedi Ochieng’s Intellectual Imagination: Knowledge and Aesthetics in North Atlantic and African Philosophy

Timothy Barney for Stephen M. Underhill’s The Manufacture of Consent: J. Edgar Hoover and the Rhetorical Rise of the FBI

Presenter(s):
T. Kenny Fountain
Thomas R. Dunn, Colorado State University
Tiffany Lewis, Baruch College, CUNY
Karen E. Whedbee, Northern Illinois University
Freya Thimsen, Indiana University
Timothy Barney, University of Richmond

Respondent(s):
Patricia Roberts-Miller, University of Texas, Austin
Pamela VanHaitsma, Penn State University
Susan C. Jarratt, University of California, Irvine
Omedi Ochieng, Denison University
Stephen Underhill, Marshall University
Paul H. Stob, Vanderbilt University


New Books in the History of Rhetoric (2 of 2)
Sat, 11/21: 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Zoom Link

Justin Eckstein for Craig Rood’s After Gun Violence: Deliberation and Memory in an Age of Political Gridlock

Jenell Johnson for Jeffrey A. Bennet’s Managing Diabetes: The Cultural Politics of Disease

Carly S. Woods for Jessica Enoch’s Domestic Occupations: Spatial Rhetorics and Women’s Work

Lisa Melonçon for Susan Wells’ Robert Burton’s Rhetoric: An Anatomy of Early Modern Knowledge

Jessica M. Prody for Stacey K. Sowards’ ¡Sí, Ella Puede! The Rhetorical Legacy of Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers

Martin Camper for Davida H. Charney’s Persuading God: Rhetorical Studies of First-Person Psalms

Presenter(s):
Justin Eckstein, Pacific Lutheran University
Jenell Johnson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Carly S. Woods, University of Maryland
Lisa Meloncon, University of South Florida
Jessica Prody, St. Lawrence University
Martin Camper, Loyola University Maryland

Respondent(s):
Craig Rood, Iowa State University
Jeffrey Bennett, Vanderbilt University
Jessica Enoch, University of Maryland
Susan Wells, Temple University
Stacey Sowards, University of Texas, El Paso
Davida Charney, University of Texas at Austin


Antiquity’s Roadshow
Sun, 11/22: 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Asynchronous Event

“Civilization’s Cicero: Classical Reception In New Media,” Michael Delayo, Penn State University

“Enlightenment How? The Reception of Cicero and the Repetition of Judeophobia in the French Enlightenment,” Natalie L. Bennie, Penn State University

“Knowledge and Authority in Athenaeus’s Performance of Intertext,” Adam Cody, Penn State University

“The Lapidary Body of Favorinus’ Flesh: The Corinthian Oration Re-Imagined,” Artemis Brod, Stanford University


Call for Papers

The American Society for the History of Rhetoric (ASHR) invites submissions in the form of individual papers, paper sessions, and panel discussions for the 106th NCA Annual Convention, “Communication at the Crossroads,” November 19-22, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NCA Convention Central will open for conference submissions on January 13, 2020. Submissions MUST be uploaded to the site by 11:59 pm, Pacific Time, on Wednesday, March 25, 2020.

The purpose of ASHR is to promote the study of the theory and practice of rhetoric in all periods, languages, and cultural contexts.

Although we welcome any submission that fits our general mission, we will be especially interested at this conference in:

a) Concepts of motion, agency, circulation, and flow that help diverse identities and ideas converge in particular topoi and places.

b) Directions of the field, emphasizing existing intersections that catalyze contemporary scholarship out of old traditions of theory and practice.

c) Paths that lead us out of our former selves (as scholars or as a field) and toward new horizons of understanding.

d) Rhetorical insights informed by Indiana, perhaps the works of Kurt Vonnegut, the State Conventions of Colored Citizens, Albion Fellows Bacon, and speeches of Eugene Debs.

Submission Formats:

1) Individual Papers: We will consider complete papers of no more than 8,000 words (including references). Please remove all author identifying information from the paper and include a description of no more than 250 words. If all authors are student, please select student paper in the submission form to be considered for the ASHR Top Student Paper award. It will be presented with fanfare at the ASHR Business Meeting and featured on the ASHR website, alongside our dissertation award.

2) Paper Sessions: We also invite cohesive proposals for paper sessions. The proposal should include a session title, a 200-300 word thematic description and overall rationale for the panel, a paper title and 250-word description for each paper, a designated chair, respondent, and participant contact information. Please do not submit full papers with paper session proposals.

3) Panel Discussions: While ASHR generally prefers papers and paper sessions, we will also review proposals on timely, well-grounded, and focused topics particularly suitable for discussion format. Panel discussion proposals should include a panel title, a thematic description of 200-300 words, a rationale that both justifies the topic and why a discussion format is required, a designated chair, and participant contact information.

For all submission types, AV requests should be made at time of submission. Sessions should include individuals representing multiple institutions, and a single person should not serve more than one role (i.e., chair, respondent, or presenter).

Practical and Ethical Reminders: 

NCA offers wonderful resources for preparing your submission (https://www.natcom.org/convention-events/convention-resources/convention-resource-library). If you submit work, you are making a firm commitment to register for and attend the Convention. Please only submit work that has not been presented elsewhere and is not under consideration for presentation at another conference or for publication. Submit to only one NCA unit, and be sure that you can produce your full presentation to respondents promptly at their request. Our interest group is known for strong mentorship and an inclusive, warm community. We will take harrassment, intimidation, or any other breech of ethical conduct especially seriously, through NCA’s stated policies.

More Information:

Please visit ASHR’s website for further information about the society including upcoming events, the journal (Advances in the History of Rhetoric, becoming Journal for the History of Rhetoric in 2020!), resources, and more:  http://www.ashr.org/

Brandon Inabinet, Furman University
ASHR Interest Group Planner 2020
brandon.inabinet@furman.edu