NCA’s 112^th Annual Convention: Move/ments in Communication

November 19-22, 2026 in New Orleans, LA

Please join ASHR at the following events.

ASHR 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

ASHR received a limited number of slots from NCA this year, but we are excited to feature the following papers and panel discussions across three sessions.

Listening to American Social Movements: Shifting Sounds of Protest in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Friday, November 20, 2:30-3:45pm, Mardi Gras Salon B (Marriott Floor 3)

American protest movements of the 20th and 21st centuries draw on rhetorical histories of sound. The past successes and failures of sounds, chants, songs, and soundscapes shapes the rhetorical choices made by activists pushing for reform. In this panel, we attempt to craft rhetorical histories of social movement sound, particularly how social movement sounds build off of the lessons learned from past social movements in composing sounds for the newer iterations of protest.

• 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”

Place, Displacement, and Material Invention in Rhetoric and Rhetorical History 

Friday, November 20, 4-5:15pm, Mardi Gras Salon B (Marriott Floor 3)

This session explores how rhetors create meaning through spatial positioning, physical dislocation, and material manipulation of texts. These papers show rhetoric to be an embodied practice shaped by geographic constraints and material affordances. From the theoretical foundations of synecdoche—where parts invoke wholes—to the physical practice of extra-illustration’s textual remix, panelists trace how spatial and material conditions generate rhetorical invention. Two historical case studies ground these concepts: exilic rhetorics produced under South Africa’s Apartheid and John Henry McCray’s multi-modal activism in Jim Crow South Carolina. Both reveal how constraint demands creative rhetorical adaptation. 

• 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]

Opportune Moments as Move/ments in Communication Scholarship

Saturday, November 21, 9:30-10:45am, Galerie 5 (Marriot Floor 2)

Co-sponsored with the Public Address Division

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.

• Max Renner
• Victoria Gallagher
• Katrina Marks
• Codey Ryan Bills
• Aurora Bell

ASHR will not be holding a business meeting at the NCA convention but will instead hold one during our December First Friday Forum on December 4^th at 1pm (Eastern). Watch your email for details and a Zoom link.

We’ll see you at NCA and at our virtual business meeting shortly thereafter!

The American Society for the History of Rhetoric (ASHR) invites submissions for its 2026 Dissertation Award.

The ASHR Dissertation Award honors an exemplary dissertation treating rhetorical history, broadly construed, that was defended between September 2025 and September 2026.

Please submit all materials via email (MS Word or PDF) to the selection committee chair, Wallace Golding, at wallace.golding@txstate.edu. The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2026.

To be considered for the award, please submit:

• A 1- to 2-page dissertation abstract.
• The dissertation’s table of contents.
• One representative chapter. (Complete dissertations will not be accepted.)
• A letter of recommendation from the dissertation advisor or a committee member that includes the defense date. Recommendation letters may be sent to the chair by either the applicant or the recommendation writer.

ASHR encourages a pluralistic conception of the history of rhetoric. The selection committee hopes to see dissertations treating histories of rhetoric from around the world that focus on any time period, draw on any type of archive, and use any method of rhetorical and/or historical analysis.

Submissions will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Significance of the work’s contribution to histories of rhetorical theory, practice, and/or pedagogy.
• Quality of research and analysis.
• Ability of the writing to engage and inform readers.

ASHR membership is not required for award consideration, but please do consider the benefits of joining. For more information on ASHR awards, including a list of past winners, click here.

Wallace Golding
Assistant Professor
Texas State University
wallace.golding@txstate.edu

The American Society for the History of Rhetoric (ASHR) invites nominations for its 2026 Mentor Award.

The ASHR Mentor Award honors an exemplary mentor in the field of rhetorical studies, whose record of supporting students and other young scholars embodies the standards and values of the discipline. 

Please submit nomination materials to Jennifer Keohane, chair of this awards committee, at jkeohane@ubalt.edu. The deadline for nominations is November 1.

To be considered for the award, nomination materials should include:  

• A 1 to 2-page letter of nomination from the person submitting the materials
• Up to two additional letters of support from individuals who have worked closely with the nominee
• An up-to-date copy of the nominee’s CV
• Optional:Additional supporting materials, such as representative comments from current or former students and colleagues, evidence of excellence in mentoring such as previous awards, etc.

Submissions will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Consistent, on-going, and superlative support for others working on projects related to the history of rhetoric
• Specific support and advocacy for students, community members, and/or colleagues historically marginalized within the study of the history of rhetoric
• Investment in mentorship roles that extends beyond the requirements of the nominee’s paid positions
• Evidence of the mentor’s lasting impact within the field of rhetorical history, on the nominee’s campus, and/or in larger communities

ASHR membership is not required for award consideration, but please do consider the benefits of joining.

Please submit all materials via email (MS Word or PDF) to the selection committee chair, Jennifer Keohane, at jkeohane@ubalt.edu. 

The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2026.

For more on ASHR awards, including a list of past winners, click here.

Jennifer Keohane
ASHR Vice President
Associate Professor
University of Baltimore
jkeohane@ubalt.edu

**ASHR members can click here for a recording of the forum**

This First Friday Forum invites a reflective conversation on the process of imagining, researching, and writing books in rhetorical history. From identifying a compelling historical subject to developing a sustained argument, writing a book requires scholars to make consequential choices about focus, evidence, organization, and intervention. How do authors determine the scope and stakes of a book? How do arguments emerge and change through research and writing? What does it mean to balance historical reconstruction, textual interpretation, and rhetorical argument across an extended work? And how do decisions about structure, narrative, and revision shape the histories we ultimately tell? Bringing together two scholars at different career stages and with different approaches to rhetorical history, this conversation will explore both the intellectual and practical work of building a book, from its earliest conceptualization through the long labor of writing, revision, and publication.

First Friday Forum, May 1, 2026, 12:00-1:00pm CT

***ASHR members can click here for a recording of the forum****

Prof. Allyson Gross, University of Wisconsin—Madison

Prof. Wallace S. Golding, Texas State University

Prof. Casey Kelly, University of Nebraska—Lincoln

Prof. Curry Kennedy, Texas A&M University

Summer is often imagined as a season when long-postponed projects will finally take shape. Yet in practice, summer rarely unfolds this way. Research competes with travel, family life, administrative tasks, and the need for rest. This forum invites a different approach. Rather than treating summer as a compressed period of maximal productivity, we will explore how to build a sustainable writing practice that accounts for the realities of our lives. Our conversation will specifically think about questions of writing scale, rhythms, and expectations: what do summer writing practices look like across different stages of academic life? How can we establish habits that endure beyond a single season? How do we set writing goals that are both ambitious and genuinely realistic? Participants are encouraged to come ready to reflect on their own constraints and commitments, and to leave with a clearer sense of what a sustainable summer of writing might look like in their particular context.

About the ASHR First Friday Forum Series: Inspired by the classical conception of the forum as an intellectual gathering place, ASHR’s “First Friday Forum” series promotes educational programming, professional development, and an inclusive, collaborative virtual community. It is our hope that this virtual space will foster dynamic, cross-disciplinary scholarly engagement for those interested in reexamining and reimagining the various histories of rhetoric across all periods, languages, cultures, and modes of performance. The Spring 2026 “First Friday Forum” series will focus on key questions related to the research and teaching of the history of rhetoric / rhetorical history. These virtual gatherings will take place on February 6, March 6, April 3, and May 1, 2026 from 12:00-1:00pm Central Time via Zoom: 

Please direct any questions to ASHR Special Programs Coordinator Dr. Kristen Einertson (eine4053@stthomas.edu).

**ASHR members can click here for recording of forum**

The American Society for the History of Rhetoric (ASHR), in collaboration with the International Society for the History of Rhetoric (ISHR), is pleased to share the formal program for its 2026 Symposium, which will take place May 21-22, 2026, just prior to the Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) Biennial Conference in Portland, Oregon.

You can view the 2026 ASHR Symposium Program and paper abstracts here.

In addition to four panels of competitively accepted papers, the 2026 ASHR Symposium will also host a set of research roundtable discussions on Thursday afternoon (May 21) and feature a spotlight roundtable panel discussion on “Rhetorical History’s Past, Present, and Future” on Friday morning (May 22). All symposium attendees are also invited to attend an evening reception on Thursday, May 21 to celebrate the fifty-year partnership between ASHR and ISHR.

We welcome all scholars interested in rhetorical history / history of rhetoric to join us over these two days to engage and reflect on the theories, methods, critical orientations, and research questions that ground studies of rhetorical history, broadly defined. The 2026 ASHR symposium is free to attend, but registration is required.

To register for the 2026 ASHR Symposium, including the ASHR Research Roundtables and the ASHR reception on May 21, please click here. To assist our planning purposes, we ask that you indicate your attendance no later than May 1.

***ASHR Members Can Click Here for Recording of Forum***

 

Prof. Lisa Corrigan, University of Arkansas
Prof. Andre Johnson, University of Memphis
Prof. Jennifer Keohane, University of Baltimore
Prof. Maryam Ahmadi, University of Georgia

 

“Movement” is often associated with social change, migration, circulation, and collective action—but for scholars of the history of rhetoric/rhetorical history, movement also names the ways rhetoric travels across time, space, media, institutions, and publics. As the National Communication Association’s upcoming conference theme invites scholars to think with and through movement, this forum asks: what does movement mean for the history of rhetoric and rhetorical historiography? This First Friday Forum explores movement as a historical, rhetorical, and methodological concept. Panelists and participants will consider how rhetoric moves through bodies and borders, texts and technologies, traditions and transformations, institutions and publics. How do rhetorical forms migrate, mutate, and reappear across historical moments? How do ideas, arguments, and genres travel across cultural and political contexts? And how might attention to movement reshape the ways we narrate rhetorical pasts, identify historical actors, and understand continuity and change? By exploring these themes, this session aims to open conceptual and practical pathways for scholars preparing work for NCA and beyond.

Register: https://stthomas.zoom.us/meeting/register/Wu3irbrHStWNMDIhPVMNhg 

***ASHR Members Can Click Here for Video Recording of Forum***