Baca – “te-ixtli”: The ‘Other Face’ of the Americas

Damian Baca – “te-ixtli: The ‘Other Face’ of the Americas from Rhetorics of the Americas 3114 BCE to 2012 CE Baca begins by noting the tendency of European universalism (Wallerstein) to quash non-Western cultural representations in political ideology, cultural meanings, and historical narratives. Baca has a series of guiding questions that I find quite remarkable for considering how we think about culture in colonialized contexts:  What is effective resistance?  How... Read More

Lyon – Why Do the Rulers Listen to the Wild Theories of Speech-Makers?

Arabella Lyon – Why Do the Rulers Listen to the Wild Theories of Speech-Makers?” Or Wuuwei, Shi, and Methods of Comparative Rhetoric Lyon recognizes early on in this piece the challenge of comparative rhetoric:  “To read, interpret, and analyze outside of one’s home language and cultural traditions is a problem of ethics, cognition, and identity, more than simply one of method” (177). The problem of translation is central to this piece – I appreciate the care that... Read More

Campbell – Rhetoric from the Ruins of African Antiquity

Campbell – Rhetoric from the Ruins of African Antiquity Campbell notes that the work of Kennedy in his book Comparative Rhetoric actually only considers contemporary African rhetorical practices, not historical ones. In this piece Campbell considers Nubia, Axum and Mali to demonstrate that the roots of the African rhetorical tradition are complex and deep.  This means that scholars must reassess their understandings of African rhetorical history and the relationship of that... Read More

Selections from Quintilian’s Institutes of Oratory

Quintilian – Selections from Institutes of Oratory Despite existing in the Imperial era, Quintillian’s rhetoric did serve a civic purpose – especially as used in forensic and epideictic oratory. Instruction in rhetoric – for Q. – is the art of speaking “well” – meaning both effectively and virtuously.  This is also known as the “strong” defense of rhetoric wherein truths are defined by the social theatres in which rhetoric is deployed toward the “good.” ... Read More

Cicero – De Oratore – Book I

Cicero – De Oratore Book I: The question of ‘When does rhetoric operate at it’s “highest” is directly engaged by C. at the beginning of this dialogue – He is writing a treatise on oratory and rhetoric at a time of intense political strife just before the dawn of Empire. C. notes that it is interesting that despite the fact that rhetoric is by classical definition a public art, there is little proof of remarkable orators through the ages . . . this is in contradistinction... Read More