“The Day Belongs to the Students”: Expanding Epideictic's Civic Function

Agnew, Lois

doi:10.1080/07350190801921768

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Lois Agnew demonstrates this point in her analysis of New York Times correspondent, Christopher Hedges, and his 2003 commencement speech at Rockford College in which he acknowledged neither the occasion nor the graduates, and instead began with a "trenchant critique" of the U.S. war with Iraq; only in his conclusion did Hedges appeal to the shared value of love, by which point the audience was booing him and security personnel had to escort him to safety. 36 The pairing of epideictic discourse and dissociation is an enticing choice for transforming listeners' views, but poor performance of ethos can lead to rejection of the speaker's rhetorical demonstration of value precepts.…”

Section: Partnership Of Dissociation and Epideictic Norms In Epideictmentioning

confidence: 99%

John F. Kennedy at American University: The Rhetoric of the Possible, Epideictic Progression, and the Commencement of Peace

Bostdorff¹,

Ferris²

2014

Quarterly Journal of Speech

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In his American University address, Kennedy employed epideictic progression, a pedagogical process drawing upon dissociation and epideictic norms to convince listeners, gradually, to embrace a new vision-in this case, a world in which a testban treaty with the U.S.S.R. was possible. To do so, Kennedy's words: (1) united the audience behind the value o f " genuine peace"; (2) humanized the Soviets as worthy partners in genuine peace; (3) established the reality o f the Cold War and the credibility o f U.S. leadership; and (4) connected lessons on genuine peace to domestic civil rights.In 1963, an ideological battle-begun in the post-war era-continued to dominate U.S.-Soviet relations, and President John F. Kennedy was in a tough spot. After campaigning on charges of a missile gap, he had intensified his cold warrior persona by creating the most formidable military the world has ever seen and continuing his hardline anticommunist rhetoric.1 In the terrifying wake of the missile crisis, however, the Kennedy administration identified the need for a more conciliatory relationship with the U.S.S.R., which could occur only through a new foreign policy strategy of detente.2The first major step toward such a strategy was achievement of a limited nuclear test-ban treaty, which Kennedy now was in a better position to persuade Americans to accept owing to his increased political capital after the missile crisis. Although

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Section: Partnership Of Dissociation and Epideictic Norms In Epideictmentioning

confidence: 99%

John F. Kennedy at American University: The Rhetoric of the Possible, Epideictic Progression, and the Commencement of Peace

Bostdorff¹,

Ferris²

2014

Quarterly Journal of Speech

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“…234-235).12 Since the focus of inquiry here is written text, the term ''author'' is used instead of ''orator'' or ''speaker''.13 Cognitive dissonance may arise on occasions, of course, and the audience's expectations may not be met or satisfied(Agnew 2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

The Newspaper as an Epideictic Meeting Point

Pan

2014

Argumentation

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This article shows how epideictic rhetoric and argumentation may be interrelated in a general-interest newspaper framed as a single discourse produced by a collective author. In more specific terms, the view advanced here is that newspaper as whole has an epideictic dimension which, in terms of argumentation, is the fundamental or predominant one. The usefulness of this approach is twofold. In terms of rhetoric, to explore the applicability of epideictic rhetoric to journalistic discourse; and in the field of journalism studies, the goal is to draw on the theory of epideictic rhetoric so as to refine the conceptualization of the nature of argumentation in the newspaper as such. Given this twofold perspective, the account of newspaper discursive practices will be general, and the classical and contemporary epideictic theory will be briefly summarized. However, the outcome of this analysis is an example of a fruitful encounter between the two fields.

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“…Specifically, I argue that members of the Virginia Tech community successfully effected change within the organization by pushing back against the administration’s initial decision to build an athletics practice facility within an old-growth forest on campus. Through epideictic rhetoric’s “dynamic capacity to shape the community’s identity” (Agnew, 2008, p. 151), they led audiences—fellow protestors, the university community at large, and the university’s leadership—to identify with a set of shared identities and values that conflicted with those that seemed to initially drive the administration’s decision. That successful identification allowed them the agency to drive consubstantial activity based on their own interpretations of the university’s identity rather than the management-centric interpretation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Agency, Authority, and Epideictic Rhetoric: A Case Study of Bottom-Up Organizational Change

Sharp

2019

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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By analyzing a case study of organizational decision making at a large research university, this article argues that the agency to make a difference within organizations-to effect organizational change-is not exclusive to those in positions of authority. This case study demonstrates how subordinate members of a university affected management's decision-making process through their use of rhetorical identification. Specifically, these organizational members gained this agency by reproducing certain values and identities through epideictic rhetoric in order to encourage collective action and effect organizational change from the bottom up.

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“The Day Belongs to the Students”: Expanding Epideictic's Civic Function

Cited by 15 publications

References 6 publications

John F. Kennedy at American University: The Rhetoric of the Possible, Epideictic Progression, and the Commencement of Peace

John F. Kennedy at American University: The Rhetoric of the Possible, Epideictic Progression, and the Commencement of Peace

The Newspaper as an Epideictic Meeting Point

Agency, Authority, and Epideictic Rhetoric: A Case Study of Bottom-Up Organizational Change

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