Seminar 9: Rhetorical Criticism of Right-Wing Rhetorics

Leaders: Paul Johnson (University of Pittsburgh) and A. Freya Thimsen (Indiana University)

This seminar affords the opportunity for participants to develop tools for conducting analysis
and criticism of contemporary right-wing rhetorics in the United States. The hegemony of the
right and its takeover/destruction of various public institutions challenge some of the core
assumptions underwriting the practice of rhetorical criticism. This seminar consolidates key
texts both in and out of rhetorical studies that have either explicitly or implicitly informed
rhetorical criticism of right-wing misogyny, racism, xenophobia, extractive dispossession.
Depending on participant interest, potential readings outside the field include Stuart Hall,
Quinn Slobodian, Alice Marwick, Patricia Williams, Richard Hofstader, Corey Robin, Laura
Fielder, Elizabeth Anker, Tressie McMillan Cottom, and Wendy Brown. Seminar participants will
connect these approaches to political theoretical accounts of conservative/right-wing rhetorics.
A non-exhaustive list of key questions includes:

• What is the status of liberalism as a set of values that may or may not be effective in
  counteracting right-wing rhetorics?
• Does it still make sense to use critical “uncovering” techniques derived from critical
  theory?
• What does this technique accomplish when it is weaponized in anti-intellectual
  populist mobilization?
• How has conservatism and technological change outflanked some of the field’s
  customary ways of conceiving of audience?
• How does the realignment of political parties affect rhetorical criticism?
• To what extent have conservatives responded to calls for enhancing critical thinking and
  media literacy in ways not understood by liberal rhetorical critics?

Participants are encouraged to bring objects of study to contribute to a shared archive for
classification, analysis, and discussion, to both measure and enumerate the fitness of certain
rhetorical theoretical tools for criticism and analysis. The result will be a seminar that equips
participants with fresh theoretical approaches to research, teaching, and institutional politics
that are substantially engaged with right-wing rhetorics.

There will be no A/V equipment available in this seminar. The seminar leaders encourage participants to bring charged devices with their preferred hardware and software pre-loaded, especially for any participants who have accessibility needs. You should indicate any accessibility needs on your registration form.