Workshop 1: Rhetorical Democracy and Digitality in a Reactionary Era: Questions, Challenges, Potentials

Leaders: Caddie Alford (Virginia Commonwealth University ), Robert Asen (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Jonathan Carter (Georgia Southwestern State University)

Reaction–in digital culture and in politics–defines our contemporary era. Insisting on reactions,
social media and digital platforms demand our attention. Big Tech products seek prolonged use
and charged takes, nudging us to like, share, troll, and so on to chase another dopamine spike.
Globally, we are seeing reactionary politics in defensive responses to calls for ameliorative social
change, collective political empowerment, and social justice. By “reactionary era,” then, we posit
connections between digitality and extreme political ideologies to pursue what these
convergences might mean for the ostensibly co-constitutive relationship of rhetoric and
democracy–for the stories we tell ourselves as a discipline about the relationship of rhetoric and
democracy.

This workshop invites participants to explore the intersecting digital and political dimensions of
our reactionary era, with an emphasis on their implications for rhetoric and democracy. We
invite potential participants to submit works-in-progress (e.g., essay drafts, dissertation chapters,
book proposals) on a range of topics related to the workshop theme, including authoritarianism,
white supremacy, patriarchy, anarcho-capitalism, demagoguery, fascisms, technopopulism,
Christian nationalism, and more.

We will structure the workshop through large-group discussions as well as small-group and
paired discussions of participants’ submissions. The large-group discussions will help us build
reflections out of common readings. Our small-group discussions will result in participants
receiving direct feedback on their submission. Participants can expect to develop scholarly
networks for future collaborations. We also anticipate that the work we do together will shape
insights that we can turn to through pedagogy and public engagement.

Note from the organizers:

As per previous workshops, there may be pre-reading and pre-work required before June. Your leaders will reach out to you some time after registration with additional details.

Additionally, there will be no A/V equipment available in this workshop. The workshop 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.