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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T173911Z
CREATED:20260820T213810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T173911Z
UID:28284-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 1: Rhetoric\, Marx\, and the Crisis of Late Capitalism
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: James Rushing Daniel (Seton Hall University) and Catherine Chaput (Fordham University) \nThis seminar will introduce Karl Marx as a resource for enhancing materialist inquiry\, exploring many of his most prominent concepts as assets for the rhetorical investigation of late capitalist crises. We will discuss “historical materialism” as a methodology uniting discursive and material analysis; “general intellect” as a collective force of production that today is at risk of assimilation by AI; “value” and “commodity fetishism” as means of obscuring labor from the capitalist schema; and “ideology” as the persuasive inversion of material conditions\, among other key terms. These foci will offer conceptual springboards into larger questions about political economic approaches to such contemporary concerns as racial\, gender\, and economic inequality; technology and AI; climate change and resource extraction; economic exploitation; and democratic dissolution. We will address a selection of Marx’s political economic writings–– excerpts from Capital I and III\, the Grundrisse\, The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844\, and The Ethnological Notebooks––as well as his political analysis\, including readings from On the Jewish Question\, The German Ideology\, and The Civil War in France. Secondary readings will include contemporary interpreters of Marx focused on such issues as feminism\, race\, decoloniality\, power\, and class (Anderson\, Chibber\, Kumar\, Federici\, Mau\, McNally\, Saito) as well as rhetorical scholarship related to these areas of inquiry\, specifically studies of identity and intersectionality (Hsu\, Yam)\, feminism and feminist movements (Schell et al.)\, climate change and environmental ecologies (Barnett\, Hawhee\, Ingraham et al.)\, and the “rhetorical economy” (Wang) of artificial intelligence (Hallsby; Majdik and Graham). \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-1-rhetoric-marx-and-the-crisis-of-late-capitalism/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T173755Z
CREATED:20260820T215229Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T173755Z
UID:28290-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 2: Rhetorics of U.S. Religious Identity
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Kristina M Lee (University of South Dakota) and Jonathan J. Edwards (University of South Carolina) \nThis seminar examines how religious rhetorics constitute American identity\,\nhighlighting how national identity and ideal citizenship is imagined\, contested\, and transformed.\nThe seminar will be organized around several interconnected themes that trace the rhetorical\nconstruction of U.S. religious identity. These include analyzing religious rhetoric from and about\nthe founding of the United States\, understanding competing definitions of religion in relationship\nto national and racial identities\, dissecting competing names for political rhetoric\, contending\nwith the hegemonic influence of Christian nationalism in the United States\, and exploring how\nreligious political discourses get strategically utilized. For each theme\, participants will engage\nwith historical and contemporary texts that have influenced rhetorical scholarship. We explore\nhow dominant narratives around religion get utilized\, resisted\, and reshaped. We also consider\nhow religion intersects with national understandings of race\, gender\, and other influential aspects\nof national identity and citizenship. This seminar explores the complexities of particular national\nmyths\, such as the Christian Nation Myth and the Myth of Religious Freedom\, key debates\nwithin public discourse about the role of religion in American life and within the field of rhetoric\nregarding the role religious rhetoric plays in shaping understandings of national identity and\ncitizenship. Participants will engage in resources and feedback for developing their own\nindividual projects relating to the Rhetorics of U.S. Religious Identity while building new\nconnections within the interdisciplinary community of scholars committed to advancing critical\nresearch on religion\, rhetoric\, national identity\, and citizenship in the United States. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-2-rhetorics-of-u-s-religious-identity/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T173636Z
CREATED:20260820T220346Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T173636Z
UID:28294-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 3: Oblique\, Relational\, and Hands-On: A New Public Humanities Practice
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Matthew Pavesich (Johns Hopkins University)\, Nancy Small (University of Wyoming) and Michelle LaFrance (George Mason University) \nThis seminar invites participants from many different career stages and institutions to\nreimagine both public engagement and the work of the public humanities through readings\,\ndiscussions\, and collaborative\, hands-on development of projects. Led by three scholars actively\nengaged in public projects\, Matthew Pavesich (DC/Adapters)\, Nancy Small (Re-Storying the West)\, and Michelle LaFrance (Historic Cemeteries of Northern Virginia). Participants will explore alternative understandings of the humanities and the rhetorical work of the public humanities. We will ground the development of newly imagined projects in rhetorical approaches that understand public humanities work as arts-based\, collaborative\, experiential\, and participatory\, such as making\, storytelling\, walking\, remembering\, preserving\, listening\, and building relationships with communities. Participants may expect small and large group conversations\, creative-invention work on a project of their own\, and discussions with local community organizers. Together\, we will explore how scholars and community partners might create new forms of public knowledge\, public memory\, and public life that move beyond dissemination toward shared inquiry\, meaning making\, and collaborative interventions in public life. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-3-oblique-relational-and-hands-on-a-new-public-humanities-practice/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T172228Z
CREATED:20260902T174139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T172228Z
UID:28376-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 7: Making Worlds: Everyday Black Rhetorics\, Creative Practice\, and Community Knowledge
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Anita Mixon Jones (Wayne State University) and Suban Nur Cooley (Michigan State University) \nWhat counts as rhetorical theory when we begin with everyday Black life? \nThis seminar explores how Black communities theorize through creative practice\, cultural\nproduction\, care work\, migration\, memory\, neighborhood storytelling\, foodways\,\nphotography\, music\, spirituality\, and other everyday practices that often remain outside\ntraditional rhetorical archives. Drawing from Black rhetorics\, Black feminist thought\,\ncultural rhetorics\, community-engaged scholarship\, and public humanities\, participants\nwill examine how ordinary acts of making and living generate sophisticated rhetorical\nknowledge. \nRather than treating Black creativity and community life as objects of rhetorical analysis\,\nthe seminar asks how they expand our understanding of rhetoric itself. Across four days\,\nparticipants will explore themes of witnessing\, making\, carrying\, and worldbuilding while\nconnecting shared readings to their own research projects. \nThe seminar is designed for scholars working in rhetoric\, communication\, Black studies\,\nliteracy studies\, technical communication\, public humanities\, and related fields who are\ninterested in developing new approaches to rhetorical theory and methodology.\nParticipants will workshop works-in-progress\, collaboratively build an interdisciplinary\nbibliography\, and develop conversations that continue beyond the Summer Institute. \nTogether\, we will ask what becomes possible when everyday Black life is understood not\nsimply as evidence for rhetorical inquiry\, but as a source of rhetorical theory in its own\nright. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-7-making-worlds-everyday-black-rhetorics-creative-practice-and-community-knowledge/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T172426Z
CREATED:20260909T145130Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T172426Z
UID:28413-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 11: Rhetoric and the Sacred: Figuring the Extrahuman
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Paul Lynch (Saint Louis University) and Steven Mailloux (Loyola Marymount University and University of California\, Irvine) \n“Rhetoric and the Sacred: Figuring the Extrahuman” studies the phenomenology\, history\, and theory of extrahuman rhetorics\, especially in religious studies\, scriptural hermeneutics\, and political theology. Under the heading of extrahuman rhetoric—sometimes described as a “rogue category” in rhetorical studies—the seminar focuses on a set of related but sometimes conflicting ideas: the sacred and the holy\, the religious and the spiritual\, the divine and the magical. These areas of human experience all invite rhetorical response\, just as they all exceed human powers to control. \nThe seminar’s central objectives are: 1) to introduce participants to a rapidly expanding discussion within rhetorical studies; 2) to trace\, and to interrogate\, the terms of that discussion\, particularly its default Christian theological assumptions. The seminar begins with the interrelated histories of rhetoric and religion in the twentieth century before turning to more recent scholarship on the phenomenology of the sacred and its challenges to rhetorical theory. Our work will then open up questions of hermeneutics and ethics\, before turning to the question of political theology within the rhetoric of religion. We close with a discussion of religious responses to AI. \nOur audiences include graduate students just beginning their research\, early career faculty advancing projects already begun\, and later career faculty whose work has begun to intersect with the extrahuman. Beyond offering an orientation to a key subfield of rhetorical studies\, the seminar will also scrutinize that subfield’s vocabulary\, inquiring into the rhetorical work undertaken when a discourse is described as “religious\,” “sacred\,” or “holy.” \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-11-rhetoric-and-the-sacred-figuring-the-extrahuman/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T164609Z
CREATED:20260909T225206Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T164609Z
UID:28361-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 4: Archives in/of Place: Memory\, Race\, and Environmental Violence
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Megan Poole (The University of Texas at Austin)\, Ariel E. Seay (North Carolina State University)\, Diane Keeling (University of San Diego) \nAs climate change worsens extreme weather\, drowns or burns entire towns\, and threatens\nthe material existence of cultural and historical archives\, scholars and historians ask:\nwhat’s worth preserving? This seminar engages questions of preservation and archives\nmore generally to consider the selectivity of what is remembered\, the practices that\nconceal histories of racial\, environmental\, and social violence\, as well as the rhetorical\npractices that lead to such inequities in public memory. Following conversations that\nexamine preservation and memory practices in place\, participants will attend to the\nmaterial\, environmental\, even geological elements that inform methodologies for resisting\nsocial and racial violence. Ultimately\, participants will engage the limits and affordances\nof environments as archives\, as there can be no justice without accounting for the\nintersecting\, sedimented forms of power layered over our landscapes. Through\nexperiences in special collections and a toxic tour with local environmental activists\,\nparticipants will ground theories of land\, relations\, and environmental/racial violence\nthrough a local case study in Louisville: Rubbertown. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-4-archives-in-of-place-memory-race-and-environmental-violence/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T173121Z
CREATED:20260909T225429Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T173121Z
UID:28365-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 5: Issues in Feminist Food Rhetorics: Conflicts\, Tensions\, Possibilities
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Consuelo Carr Salas (San Diego State University)\, Eileen E. Schell (Syracuse University)\, Abby M. Dubisar (Iowa State University) and Kelli R. Gill (Montana State University) \nThis RSA seminar will focus on feminist food rhetorics. A feminist approach to studying food\nexamines the rhetorical nature of food\, drawing attention to the material and ecological approach\nto food\, from production to consumption and all the rhetorical action in between. Inspired by\nwork in feminist rhetorics\, which recognizes and appreciates in the lives and words of women\n(Kirsch and Royster)\, feminist food rhetorics\, pays special attention to issues of uncovering the\npeople\, places and practices that have been previously overlooked in food studies. \nAs feminist food rhetoricians\, we ask: What actions\, movements\, and food choices are available\nto us based on our positionalities within these systems? How are food systems both global and\nlocal? We also consider how food systems are connected to questions of intersectionality.\nIn relation to that second question\, we will connect this seminar to Louisville’s rich network of\nurban farms\, community gardens\, and farm to table restaurants. We will look at food production\,\nethics of eating\, embodiment\, interaction of food systems and community\, and food and media\nincluding digital and print cultures. \nWe have structured the seminar to be suitable for those who are interested in feminist food\nrhetorics as scholars and as teachers. The structure of the seminar will provide a strong\nfoundation in feminist food rhetorics scholarship and encourage conversation and speculation\nabout the next steps for the field\, including participants’ individual research and teaching\nprojects. We invite participants with a wide range of interests and experience with these topics\,\nbut no previous experience in food rhetorics is required. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-5-issues-in-feminist-food-rhetorics-conflicts-tensions-possibilities/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T173321Z
CREATED:20260909T225642Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T173321Z
UID:28372-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 6: Taxonomies of Sex\, Bodies Seeking Pleasure\, and Romantic Attachments in Rhetorical Work
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Cindy Tekobbe (University of Illinois Chicago)\, Timothy Oleksiak (University of Massachusetts Boston) and Sherri Craig (Virginia Tech) \nThis seminar gathers scholars across the professional spectrum to collectively imagine sex (the experience of bodies experiencing pleasure) as a resource for rhetorical invention. We wish to create an intellectual space to pursue the taxonomies of sex\, bodies seeking pleasure\, erotics\, and the new forms of writing and theorizing that might emerge when we talk about sex\, what sex means\, how sex moves\, and how sex talk might shape rhetorical work. We invite participants to bring their curiosities regarding our seminar’s central question: what can we imagine together with a sustained attention to sex\, actual bodies\, liberation\, and justice? \n\nRegistrants will receive a complete reading list and initial agenda by February 15\, 2027. Participants will also be asked to study the readings and submit an informal\, 5-page (or less) piece of writing in late May 2027 that charts the sexy\, ridiculous\, risky\, absurd\, imaginative\, and exciting possibilities for thinking about sex and the rhetorical together. These pieces of writing will be circulated to everyone as a way of getting to know each other prior to our meeting. \n\nGiven the nature of our seminar which focuses on sex and sexuality and the identities and perspectives represented within this group\, participants will be expected to rely on an ethic of care and the RSA Professional Code of Conduct which seminar leaders will invoke if necessary. \n\nWe welcome and encourage potential seminar participants to reach out to seminar leaders with questions. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-6-taxonomies-of-sex-bodies-seeking-pleasure-and-romantic-attachments-in-rhetorical-work/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T171805Z
CREATED:20260909T230116Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T171805Z
UID:28380-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 8: Taking it to the Streets: Rhetoricians Doing Activism in a World on Fire
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Theon Hill (Wheaton College) and Brynn Fitzsimmons (University of Alabama) \nEnduring forms of oppression\, marginalization\, and exploitation challenge us to ask\ncrucial questions regarding the role of rhetorical scholars as participants in organizing and\nadvocacy efforts. Specifically\, this seminar questions how rhetoricians might use the tools of the\nfield to do activism and organizing beyond academic research. To address this question\,\nparticipants will reflect critically on the intersections of activism and rhetorical studies\, develop a\npersonal theory of change\, and map their own risk tolerance and role within organizing work. In\naddition\, participants will learn strategies for discovering\, contacting\, and adapting their skills to\nactivist and advocacy organizations in their areas. This will include discussions on trust-building\nand frequent academic/activist tensions. Louisville’s history of organizing and advocacy\npositions it as an ideal site for this conversation. In 2020\, the state-sanctioned killing of Breonna\nTaylor triggered sustained local organizing efforts\, drawing on a deeper advocacy and organizing\nhistory. In 1963\, Louisville became the first major Southern city to ban racial discrimination in\npublic accommodations\, a full year before the U.S. Civil Rights Act\, a victory driven by Black\nhigh school students and local advocacy organizations protesting segregated businesses. This\nseminar treats organizing as a practice that sustains activist moments\, working alongside local\norganizers and drawing on Louisville’s ongoing organizing infrastructure. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-8-taking-it-to-the-streets-rhetoricians-doing-activism-in-a-world-on-fire/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T171527Z
CREATED:20260909T230326Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T171527Z
UID:28388-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 9: Rhetorical Criticism of Right-Wing Rhetorics
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Paul Johnson (University of Pittsburgh) and A. Freya Thimsen (Indiana University) \nThis seminar affords the opportunity for participants to develop tools for conducting analysis\nand criticism of contemporary right-wing rhetorics in the United States. The hegemony of the\nright and its takeover/destruction of various public institutions challenge some of the core\nassumptions underwriting the practice of rhetorical criticism. This seminar consolidates key\ntexts both in and out of rhetorical studies that have either explicitly or implicitly informed\nrhetorical criticism of right-wing misogyny\, racism\, xenophobia\, extractive dispossession.\nDepending on participant interest\, potential readings outside the field include Stuart Hall\,\nQuinn Slobodian\, Alice Marwick\, Patricia Williams\, Richard Hofstader\, Corey Robin\, Laura\nFielder\, Elizabeth Anker\, Tressie McMillan Cottom\, and Wendy Brown. Seminar participants will\nconnect these approaches to political theoretical accounts of conservative/right-wing rhetorics.\nA non-exhaustive list of key questions includes: \n\nWhat is the status of liberalism as a set of values that may or may not be effective in\ncounteracting right-wing rhetorics?\nDoes it still make sense to use critical “uncovering” techniques derived from critical\ntheory?\nWhat does this technique accomplish when it is weaponized in anti-intellectual\npopulist mobilization?\nHow has conservatism and technological change outflanked some of the field’s\ncustomary ways of conceiving of audience?\nHow does the realignment of political parties affect rhetorical criticism?\nTo what extent have conservatives responded to calls for enhancing critical thinking and\nmedia literacy in ways not understood by liberal rhetorical critics?\n\nParticipants are encouraged to bring objects of study to contribute to a shared archive for\nclassification\, analysis\, and discussion\, to both measure and enumerate the fitness of certain\nrhetorical theoretical tools for criticism and analysis. The result will be a seminar that equips\nparticipants with fresh theoretical approaches to research\, teaching\, and institutional politics\nthat are substantially engaged with right-wing rhetorics. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-9-rhetorical-criticism-of-right-wing-rhetorics/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T171330Z
CREATED:20260909T230534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T171330Z
UID:28392-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 10: Rhetoric/AI: Destructive Pleasures\, Cruel Optimisms\, Reorienting Problematics
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Attila Hallsby (University of Minnesota\, Twin Cities) and Gavin Johnson (Texas Christian University) \nWhy do people opt into technologies they recognize as dangerous? How can we simultaneously name\nAI’s destruction—environmental damage\, hypersurveillance\, data extraction\, epistemic degradation—and\nstill justify the pleasures of using it? Existing scholarship in rhetoric and AI has converged on a set of\ncommonplaces about disruption\, harm\, and utility\, but these accounts remain reactive\, stranded in a\nsynchronic present too thin to support durable critique. This seminar argues that understanding AI’s\naffective-rhetorical realities requires a vocabulary for destruction-as-pleasure that doesn’t rely on\nmystification—the assumption that people acquiesce to harmful conditions only because they’ve been\ndeceived. Drawing on the death drive (Edelman) and cruel optimism (Berlant) as well as necropolitics\n(Mbembe) and rhetorical critiques of AI (Hallsby; Wang)\, we develop realist\, sympathetic\, and strategic\naccounts of AI’s proliferation\, treating self-destructive attachment as intelligible rather than simply false\nconsciousness. \nThese accounts anchor five interlocking problematics: the death drive––pleasure principle continuum\nstructuring AI adoption; AI as an “undead” technology that revives older logics of racialized and\nextractive violence; the kakoethos\, or pathological (bad) character\, of the AI founder class; a\nhypercapitalist antihumanism that renders human judgment and labor increasingly worthless; and a shift\nin surveillance from panoptic observation to anticipatory foreclosure. Together\, these threads work toward\na shared rhetorical vocabulary capable of naming destruction and pleasure at once while being durable\nenough to outlast the boosterism/doomerism cycle that continually resets public debate.\nThrough participant-driven discussion\, short writing tasks\, and collaborative exchange\, this seminar\ninvites scholars in rhetoric\, communication\, and writing studies to build new critical and pedagogical\nresponses to AI’s affective hold. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-10-rhetoric-ai-destructive-pleasures-cruel-optimisms-reorienting-problematics/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T170044Z
CREATED:20260909T230928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T170044Z
UID:28417-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 12: Encountering Rhetorical Worlds: A Seminar in Comparative Rhetoric
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Ralph Cintron (University of Illinois Chicago)\, Tarez Graban (Florida State University) and Shiben Banerji (University of California\, Berkeley) \nThis seminar explores methods and problems of comparative rhetoric across media\, practices\,\nand languages. Seminarians may take up key concepts from one language/rhetorical tradition\nand complicate their work with another (e.g.\, how might the Arabic/Islamic concept of ṣulḥ\, or\nthe Yoruba concept of àṣẹ enable us to reconsider conflict resolution\, agency\, cosmology\, or\nworld-making?). Further\, seminarians may be interested in how material artifacts\, such as textile\ndesigns\, function across rhetorical traditions\, or the rhetoric of place (the Ming Forbidden City as\na mapping of temporal/celestial relations\, and so on). Those who have never done formal work\nin comparative rhetoric are welcome. We presume that rhetoric is world-making and that\nrhetorical traditions can communicate across worlds. \nThe seminar will consist of presentations/discussions by RSA members with considerable\nexperience with different rhetorical traditions and their cosmologies. Groups will be\nformed according to the initial proposals and collectively explore rhetorical concepts embedded\nin different rhetorical traditions. The seminar may figuratively or literally assemble an\nencyclopedia of rhetorical concepts. \nPossible topics: \n\nWhat is rhetoric\, and what are rhetorical traditions?\nWhat might/should be the goals of comparing rhetorical traditions?\nHow should/can animist rhetorical traditions (landscapes\, the dead\, animals\, plants\, and\nso on as speakers) and non-animist traditions engage each other?\nWhat can a reading of different origin stories regarding the first moment of language tell\nus about distinctive rhetorical traditions?\nWhat are some trade routes (literal and metaphorical) among and between rhetorical\ntraditions—such as Greco-Roman\, European\, Chinese\, African languages\, indigenous\nlanguages of the Americas\, Pacific Islander languages\, and so on?\nWhat political discourses and/or ethical systems have emerged in different rhetorical\ntraditions?\nWhat might the examination of themes—such as truth\, resonance\, apology\, and so on—across rhetorical traditions reveal?\n\nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-12-encountering-rhetorical-worlds-a-seminar-in-comparative-rhetoric/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T165741Z
CREATED:20260909T231124Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T165741Z
UID:28421-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 13: Encounters with Violence: The Rhetoric of Witnessing
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Annie Hill (University of Texas at Austin) and Catherine Palczewski (University of Northern Iowa) \nWhat does it mean to be a witness\, a spectator\, a voyeur\, or a bystander? What are the in/actions\ninvolved in these ways of looking? This RSA seminar will explore the role of agency and action\nwhen encountering violence directed at others. \nImages of violent events on mass and social media reach millions of viewers who cannot reach\nthe scenes they see. Sometimes activism\, engagement\, and outreach manifest in the aftermath of\nviolence. But no response is guaranteed. Thus\, the intersecting set of questions that this seminar\nasks include: \n\n\n\nWhich kinds of violence receive media and public attention\, generate a collective sense\nof responsibility\, and induce people to (re)act?\nHow do different publics define and discern violence?\nWhich violent events rise to the occasion of outside intervention\, and which are deemed\nbetter left alone?\nWhat arguments are offered and\, just as important\, what are the grounds given\, for the\npositions taken to get involved or to stay out of it and “not choose a side?”\n\n\n\nWe pose these questions to foreground the rhetorical\, moral\, and ethical dimensions that inform\nand structure what people do when witnessing\, engaging in voyeurism\, or standing by violence.\nWe will also highlight issues of intimacy and complicity that haunt views of violent encounters. \nEach day of the seminar will be organized around seminar-style discussions of assigned readings\,\ncase study analyses\, featured presentations\, and workshopping participants’ projects. Participants\nwill be expected to submit a working draft of an essay in early May that will be shared with other\nmembers of the seminar. \nIf you have any questions\, please contact Dr. Annie Hill (anniehill@utexas.edu) or Dr. Cate Palczewski (palczewski@uni.edu). \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-13-encounters-with-violence-the-rhetoric-of-witnessing/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T165311Z
CREATED:20260909T231513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T165311Z
UID:28425-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 14: Post Truth Rhetorics
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Scott Sundvall (Florida International University)\, Sergio Figueiredo (Kennesaw State University) and Jason Crider (Texas A&M University) \nEveryday examples of post-truth continue to abound: conspiracy theorization; the undermining of institutions of knowledge production; and violent resistance to democratic processes. Critical analysis of\, and resistance to\, these various instantiations of post-truth do not resolve the underlying question of how they are rhetorically effective. That these instantiations of post-truth can be simultaneously understood as falsities (or not truths with fidelity\, at least) and yet also as widely believed presents both a conceptual double-bind and a practical\, rhetorical opportunity. This seminar seeks to tackle such a charge. Far from an attempt to further gentrify truth\, this seminar examines how scholars and teachers of rhetoric can reappropriate the gentrification of (post-)truth to do real work in the world. Across six half-day sessions\, participants will be offered (1) orientations for understanding post-truth\, (2) distinctions and overlaps between conspiracy theory and post-truth practices\, (3) modes of comprehending how post-truth works in DIY health\, (4) approaches for understanding how post-truth affects public education\, (5) methods for discerning the rhetorical effects of post-truth on socio-political policy deliberations\, and (6) tactics and strategies for re-appropriating post-truth. During the seventh and final session\, participants will be invited to participate in a collaborative project developed through the seminar with the intent of submit to the Rhetorics for All repository within a year of the seminar. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-14-post-truth-rhetorics/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T165150Z
CREATED:20260909T231723Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T165150Z
UID:28429-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 15: Contested Ground: Rhetorical Cartography as Theory and Method
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Timothy Barney (University of Richmond) and Heather Ashley Hayes (University of Alabama) \nMaps make arguments. They naturalize borders\, render some places central and others\nperipheral\, and convert contested terrain into apparent neutrality. This seminar explores\nrhetorical and cultural cartography on two fronts. First\, as an object of rhetorical analysis\nand second\, as a method for doing rhetorical scholarship. Over three and a half days\,\nparticipants will move between close readings of maps as persuasive\, world-shaping\ntexts and hands-on experimentation with cartography as an analytic practice\, a way of\nlocating rhetoric(s) in space\, tracing their circulation\, and visualizing the rhetorical\ngeographies and landscapes that organize public life. \nWe will work across cartographic traditions and contemporary cases including imperial\nand military mapping\, data visualization and the politics of the dashboard & organizing\nalgorithm\, digital and counter-mapping\, and the spatial rhetorics of memory\, mobility\,\nand access. Throughout\, we ask what it means to treat the map\, and cartography itself\,\nnot as illustration but as rhetoric\, and what becomes possible when rhetorical scholars\nmap and trace landscapes as a way of seeing. \nThe seminar is designed for participants at any career stage who work on space\, place\,\nthe body\, visualization\, materiality\, public memory\, or the rhetoric of science and\ntechnology\, and for those curious about developing richer approaches to cartographic\nand/or spatial methods. Participants will leave with enhanced vocabularies for rhetorical\nand cultural cartography\, a set of analytic approaches they can carry into their own\nprojects\, and a draft cartographic intervention developed during the week. No technical\nor design background is assumed. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-15-contested-ground-rhetorical-cartography-as-theory-and-method/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T164924Z
CREATED:20260909T231909Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T164924Z
UID:28433-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 16: Building Solidarity\, Building Theory: Rhetorical Perspectives on Solidarity
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Noor Ghazal Aswad (University of Alabama) and Kendall Gerdes (University of Utah) \nThis seminar explores theories of solidarity\, coalition\, and collective action. In a global\nyet increasingly divided world\, solidarity remains an urgent political aspiration\, a difficult\nrhetorical practice\, and a condition of possibility for rhetorical address and response. We invite\nparticipants to examine how solidarity is imagined\, articulated\, negotiated\, enacted\, and even\nnegated across differences of identity\, geography\, language\, history\, and political experience. \nRather than treating solidarity as a stable condition or uncomplicated expression of\nunity\, we interrogate the range of approaches to solidarity currently developing in rhetorical\nstudies and adjacent fields. Which theories of solidarity are operationalized by labor activists\nand by rhetors in social movements? How do rhetorical theories of solidarity draw on and speak\nto these exigencies? If solidarity is an ongoing practice of relation-making and fellowship\, then\nhow can people forge connections without necessarily erasing the differences\, tensions\, and\nasymmetries that separate them? How do we anticipate error\, take great leaps and yet still\nbuild coalitions? What practices make engaging in solidarity sustainable? \nWe will look for answers to these questions by studying both historical and\ncontemporary social movements. Together\, we will consider the rhetorical practices through\nwhich solidarities emerge and circulate across borders and boundaries\, asking how people build\ncoalitions\, create counterpublics\, translate struggles across contexts\, and construct shared\npolitical imaginaries in response to local and global urgencies. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-16-building-solidarity-building-theory-rhetorical-perspectives-on-solidarity/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTSTAMP:20261021T164746Z
CREATED:20260909T232300Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261021T164746Z
UID:28437-1812355200-1812628800@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Seminar 17: What Counts: Rhetoric\, Economics\, and Technologies of the Decision Shaping Planetary Crisis
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Timothy Johnson (University of Louisville) and Gwendolyn Inocencio (Tarleton State University) \nCrisis has become our ambient condition. Pandemic\, climate collapse\, political polarization\,\nextinction\, precarity\, and more. These situations anchor much of what rhetoricians study\, and\neach reaches us already translated into an economy: of attention\, of health\, of nature\, of security.\nBefore we can analyze a crisis\, economics has often already decided what about it counts\,\nrendering some harms\, actors\, and timescales legible as a cost\, a risk\, an asset while others go\nunpriced\, externalized\, and silent. Economics\, in other words\, operates as one of rhetoric’s most\npervasive rival technologies for guiding decision-making: it performs the world-shaping\,\nboundary-drawing\, consequence-assigning work rhetoric has long claimed\, yet does so with the\nexclusion of rhetoricians. \nWe need rhetorical interventions\, and we need them now\, and the need is not abstract. Over three\nand a half days\, we ask what it means that rhetoric is being contested as a technology and what\nrhetoricians can do in response. Rather than survey a single crisis\, we invite participants to bring\ntheir own: the critical juncture at the center of their research. Together we interrogate it through a\nseries of shared questions: How are crises made legible or illegible\, and by whom? How might\nscholars of rhetoric produce work that engages with economic reason either directly or as context\nfor a larger project? \nNote from the organizers:\nAs per previous seminars\, 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/seminar-17-what-counts-rhetoric-economics-and-technologies-of-the-decision-shaping-planetary-crisis/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270607T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260914T182055Z
CREATED:20250609T180325Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260914T182055Z
UID:21523-1812355200-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:RSA 2027 Institute
DESCRIPTION:To register for the 12th biennial RSA Summer Institute\, please click on the link of the seminar or workshop you with to register for on this page. \nAs a reminder\, only current members can register for the RSA 2027 Summer Institute. When you are ready to register\, please ensure your membership is current and you are logged in to access the tickets. \n 
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/rsa-2027-institute/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute,Student Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rhetoricsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/joshua-michaels-I9rAM1iblKA-unsplash-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T004900Z
CREATED:20260910T004654Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T004900Z
UID:28441-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 1: Rhetorical Democracy and Digitality in a Reactionary Era: Questions\, Challenges\, Potentials
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Caddie Alford (Virginia Commonwealth University )\, Robert Asen (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Jonathan Carter (Georgia Southwestern State University) \nReaction–in digital culture and in politics–defines our contemporary era. Insisting on reactions\,\nsocial media and digital platforms demand our attention. Big Tech products seek prolonged use\nand charged takes\, nudging us to like\, share\, troll\, and so on to chase another dopamine spike.\nGlobally\, we are seeing reactionary politics in defensive responses to calls for ameliorative social\nchange\, collective political empowerment\, and social justice. By “reactionary era\,” then\, we posit\nconnections between digitality and extreme political ideologies to pursue what these\nconvergences might mean for the ostensibly co-constitutive relationship of rhetoric and\ndemocracy–for the stories we tell ourselves as a discipline about the relationship of rhetoric and\ndemocracy. \nThis workshop invites participants to explore the intersecting digital and political dimensions of\nour reactionary era\, with an emphasis on their implications for rhetoric and democracy. We\ninvite potential participants to submit works-in-progress (e.g.\, essay drafts\, dissertation chapters\,\nbook proposals) on a range of topics related to the workshop theme\, including authoritarianism\,\nwhite supremacy\, patriarchy\, anarcho-capitalism\, demagoguery\, fascisms\, technopopulism\,\nChristian nationalism\, and more. \nWe will structure the workshop through large-group discussions as well as small-group and\npaired discussions of participants’ submissions. The large-group discussions will help us build\nreflections out of common readings. Our small-group discussions will result in participants\nreceiving direct feedback on their submission. Participants can expect to develop scholarly\nnetworks for future collaborations. We also anticipate that the work we do together will shape\ninsights that we can turn to through pedagogy and public engagement. \nNote from the organizers: \nAs 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. \nAdditionally\, 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-1-rhetorical-democracy-and-digitality-in-a-reactionary-era-question-challenges-potentials/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260911T222520Z
CREATED:20260910T005113Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260911T222520Z
UID:28451-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 2: Composing Public Good: Grant Writing as Rhetorical Strategy and Community Practice
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Rich Rice (Texas Tech University) and Lauren Maher (Texas Tech University) \nProposal writing is a powerful form of public rhetoric. Grant proposals define problems and translate evidence into action. They also shape which forms of research\, care\, teaching\, and community work become fundable. This workshop invites participants to approach grant writing as rhetorical strategy and ethical public practice. Participants will learn how to analyze funding solicitations as rhetorical artifacts\, develop persuasive proposal claims\, revise need statements\, and use review criteria as a tool for stronger drafts. The workshop addresses responsible uses of AI in proposal development\, emphasizing solicitation analysis\, compliance review\, and reviewer simulation. Designed for faculty\, graduate students\, writing program administrators\, and community-engaged scholars\, the workshop offers a practical framework for writing and teaching grants. No prior grant writing experience is required. Participants will leave with tools for proposal invention\, ethical representation\, and rhetorical review. \nNote from the organizers: \nAs 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-2-composing-public-good-grant-writing-as-rhetorical-strategy-and-community-practice/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T005555Z
CREATED:20260910T005308Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T005555Z
UID:28457-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 3: Acrobalancing Academics: Moving Bodies in the Progymnasium
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Lauren Cagle (University of Kentucky)\, Sharon Yam (University of Kentucky) and Melissa Yang (Emory University) \nEmbodied rhetorics have drawn our attention to the role bodies play in rhetorical ecologies. However\, we are rarely invited to center our actual\, literal\, physical bodies in our rhetorical work or professional lives. “Acrobalancing Academics: Moving Bodies in the Progymnasium” centers the physical body as the starting point for exploring and understanding central issues in rhetorical theory and practice\, including pedagogy\, balance\, and power. We will gather to calibrate and draw connections among our research\, teaching\, and praxis and realms of literal and figurative embodiment. Through hands-on exercises and discussions of activities and readings\, participants will proactively draw from movement arts to consider the possibilities of more full-bodied rhetorical inquiries. The expected outcomes of this workshop are twofold: epistemological and pedagogical. Through acrobalancing activities and discussion of related scholarly texts\, participants will develop a more concrete and embodied understanding of how we cultivate relationships\, communicate\, and create knowledge through bodily acts. Second\, in addition to sharing an archive of relevant readings and activities with participants\, we will guide and encourage participants to brainstorm plans for adapting and reinventing their own classrooms as sites of embodied progymnasmata. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-3-acrobalancing-academics-moving-bodies-in-the-progymnasium/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260914T221118Z
CREATED:20260910T005936Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260914T221118Z
UID:28461-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 4: A Workshop for Emerging Scholars
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Theon Hill (Wheaton College) and Jennifer LeMesurier (Pennsylvania State University) \nThe leaders of the standalone Emerging Scholars program offer this Summer Institute Workshop as an extension of the larger program’s curriculum. RSA remains committed to anti-racism\, the decolonization of rhetoric\, access as a core praxis\, and the diversification of the professoriat\, and this workshop offers an opportunity for those beyond the 2025 and 2026 program cohorts to benefit from the community building and honest discussions about the academy’s “hidden curriculum” that such a gathering offers. Participants will develop and expand their professional networks\, engage in horizontal mentoring\, and foster non-competitive\, collaborative academic practices. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-4-a-workshop-for-emerging-scholars/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T010108Z
CREATED:20260910T010108Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T010108Z
UID:28465-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 5: Field Notes on Natureculture
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Hannah Hopkins (Georgia State University) and Jennifer Clary-Lemon (University of Waterloo) \nClimate loss demands renewed strategies for attending to and composing with\nenvirons-in-flux. We might think of these as strategies for witnessing climate change:\nways of knowing and responding to the embodied\, multiscalar valences of climate crisis. \nThis workshop invites scholars in environmental rhetoric\, rhetorics of science\, and\nscholars with interest in rhetorical field methods to work with one such strategy: noting\,\nthe practice of observing\, responding to\, and affectively dwelling within a field.\nThis workshop invites participants to practice noting as interventional and inventional\, a\ndynamic and active composition practice that emplaces writers in specific and evolving\nmaterial ecologies. Our workshop will include time spent gathering together for\ndiscussion about the practice of noting\, followed by two field excursions as a large\ngroup. The first fieldwork session will take place at the Louisville Nature Center\,\nfollowed by a second fieldwork session in the immediate urban environment in\nLouisville. In both fieldwork sessions\, participants will experiment with a range of noting\ntechnologies in order to take notice of how “built” environment also enrolls ostensibly\nwild spaces. As a group\, we’ll think together about the ways that our rhetorical practices\nare bound up in wild\, shifting ecologies. At the close of this workshop\, participants will\ncome together to create field guide zines that render some of their takeaways from their\ntwo fieldwork experiences. \nParticipants need no previous with field noting or zine production to participate in this\nworkshop — simply a willingness to creatively and collaboratively engage with our\nenvironments in Louisville. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-5-field-notes-on-natureculture/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T010300Z
CREATED:20260910T010300Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T010300Z
UID:28469-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 6: Selling the Future: Investigating the Rhetoric of AI Advertising
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Kaitlyn Haynal (University of Mary Washington) and Ryan Cheek (Missouri University of Science & Technology) \nArtificial intelligence companies have produced a growing body of advertisements\,\nlaunch videos\, product pages\, keynote presentations\, demonstrations\, and public statements that\nexplain what AI is and what kind of future it promises. The RhetAI Coalition’s Core Advertising\nNarratives Task Force\, co-chaired by Ryan Cheek of Missouri S&T and Kaitlyn Haynal of the\nUniversity of Mary Washington\, is building a public database that collects these materials and\norganizes them around recurring narratives such as productivity\, partnership\, trust\,\ndemocratization\, creativity\, and technological transformation (Bareis & Katzenbach\, 2022;\nMajdik & Graham\, 2024). This workshop invites participants to use that database to develop\ntheir own rhetorical research. \nAfter a brief introduction to the archive\, participants will select artifacts connected to\ntheir interests and begin developing individual projects. Possible topics include metaphor\, visual\nrhetoric\, labor\, gender\, agency\, public culture\, political economy\, technological ethos\, and\nchanges in AI discourse over time. Small group discussion will give participants an opportunity\nto test research questions\, compare interpretations\, refine arguments\, and receive feedback. \nParticipants will leave with a focused corpus\, a preliminary argument\, and a short chapter\nprospectus that they can continue developing after the Institute. The workshop will also support a\nplanned edited collection on the rhetoric of AI advertising\, public communication\, and\ntechnological futures. Participants will be invited to develop projects begun during the workshop\nfor possible submission to that collection. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-6-selling-the-future-investigating-the-rhetoric-of-ai-advertising/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T010610Z
CREATED:20260910T010511Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T010610Z
UID:28478-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 7: Fractal Rhetorics Interventions: A Design Thinking Approach to Scaling Feminist Rhetorical Action
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Tammie M. Kennedy (University of Nebraska at Omaha) and Jessi Thomsen (Western Kentucky University) \nWhat becomes possible when we treat feminist rhetorical action not as a\nchoice between small interventions and large-scale change\, but as a both/and? In this\nworkshop\, participants will work as a community of thinkers and doers to explore that question\nthrough “fractal rhetorics” and a collaborative design thinking process. Drawing on the fractal as\na “theory-in-motion” (Maier et al. 2020)\, we will zoom in on the often overlooked\, sometimes\nnearly invisible actions through which feminist rhetorical work takes shape\, gains momentum\,\nand sustains itself over time. At the same time\, we will zoom out\, tracing how these seemingly\nsmall actions repeat\, reverberate\, and accumulate across larger systems\, communities\, and\nstructures. Design thinking offers participants a practical methodology for moving between these\nscales. Through iterative\, collaborative activities\, participants will identify places where focused\nfractal interventions might interrupt entrenched patterns\, open new possibilities\, or make larger\nchange more imaginable. Rather than approaching “wicked problems” as puzzles that can be\nneatly solved\, we will ask how attending to scale\, repetition\, relation\, and movement can reveal\npoints of intervention that might otherwise remain unseen. Participants will leave the workshop\nwith two interconnected outcomes. First\, they will gain frameworks and methods for bringing\nfractal rhetorics and design thinking into their own feminist commitments\, teaching\, scholarship\,\norganizing\, and other practices. Second\, each participant will develop a tangible deliverable\nresponding to a “wicked problem” they bring to the workshop—turning theory into motion and\nleaving with a concrete intervention designed to keep moving. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-7-fractal-rhetorics-interventions-a-design-thinking-approach-to-scaling-feminist-rhetorical-action/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T010822Z
CREATED:20260910T010822Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T010822Z
UID:28491-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 8: Updating Our Privacy Settings: Protecting Our Public Places\, Bodies\, and Classrooms
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Chen Chen (Utah State University)\, Emily Gillo (University of Memphis)\, Noah Wason (University of New York at Cortland)\, Charles Woods (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Sarah Young (University of Arizona) \nIn an age of ubiquitous digital surveillance\, the issue of privacy is paramount. While rhetorical\nscholarship has examined privacy thoroughly\, including strong critiques and equally strong\ndefenses\, the rhetorical geographies of privacy have been taken for granted. In this workshop\,\nwhich is facilitated by members of the Digital Rhetorical Privacy Collective (DRPC)\n(drpcollective.com) and connected to the publication of our edited collection\, Privacy Settings\,\navailable in Spring 2027 from the University of Pittsburgh Press\, participants will interrogate how\nprivacy is contextualized under varying terms of engagement across public spaces\, bodily\nborders\, and learning landscapes. A play on words\, “privacy settings\,” as our guiding framework\nfor the workshop\, offers insight on the places and spaces where privacy and surveillance are in\ntension as well as the choices (the settings) users choose to take control of their privacy.\nGuided by discussions on scholarship in surveillance studies\, rhetoric/communication theories\,\nwriting studies\, and intersectional and embodied analysis\, participants will work on deliverables\nof their choices that interrogate and investigate issues of privacy and surveillance. The\nworkshop topics draw from the three sections of our edited collection: Public Spaces\, Bodily\nBorders\, and Learning Landscapes. Other than exploring scholarly conversations\, participants\nwill gain practical resources on how to protect our privacy in day-to-day life and how to teach\nstudents to be more conscious of privacy issues and be better custodians of our rights to\nprivacy. Participants will work towards developing research project ideas\, public-facing projects\,\nor pedagogical materials by the completion of the workshop. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-8-updating-our-privacy-settings-protecting-our-public-places-bodies-and-classrooms/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T011042Z
CREATED:20260910T011042Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T011042Z
UID:28486-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 9: Community-Engaged Rhetorical Work
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Amy Lueck (Santa Clara University) and Brice Nordquist (Syracuse University) \nUniversities often struggle to connect community engagement\, teaching\, and research into\nsustained systems of impact. This session introduces Syracuse University’s Engaged\nHumanities Network (EHN) and the Ohlone Heritage Hub at Santa Clara University as scalable\nmodels for integrating community-engaged research\, teaching\, and creative work into a\ncohesive\, place-based infrastructure that advances community well-being. In addition to\nproviding an overview of these programs and their conceptual frameworks\, the session\nhighlights how storytelling functions as both a method and a metric—capturing impact through\nnarrative\, public performance\, and co-produced knowledge. \nThis session will introduce a conceptual framework of community-engaged rhetorics as\nmeshwork\, in which learning emerges through interconnected relationships across institutions\nand communities rather than within isolated structures. Participants will examine how\ndecentralized but coordinated systems—characterized by mutual support\, co-mentorship\, and\nshared infrastructure—can produce durable\, community-centered and community-driven\noutcomes while strengthening democratic processes. \nCo-facilitated by faculty directors from two university contexts\, the workshop will include case\nstudies\, visual models of networked infrastructure\, and examples of participatory and\nstorytelling-based assessment tools. Participants will gain practical strategies for designing\nequitable cross-sector partnerships\, using mixed-method approaches to assess impact\, and\naligning institutional work with community-defined priorities. They will reflect\, strategize\, and\nbuild community through the application of these models and strategies to their own\ninstitutional contexts and projects. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-9-community-engaged-rhetorical-work/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260910T011230Z
CREATED:20260910T011230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260910T011230Z
UID:28494-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 10: Rhetoric and Mindfulness
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Jeremy Engels (Pennsylvania State University) \nMindfulness has become incredibly popular in North America during the twenty-first century.\nHow might this ancient practice\, first developed by Buddhists in what is now northern India and\nsouthern Nepal over two millennia ago\, speak to the concerns of rhetorical studies—and what can\nrhetorical scholars add to the contemporary cultural conversation on mindfulness? These are the\nquestions we take up in this workshop. Our shared goal in this workshop is to understand how\nmindfulness might contribute to rhetorical studies and how rhetorical scholars might contribute to\ncontemporary conversations about mindfulness. Together we will investigate how mindfulness practice\ncan aid rhetorical practice by challenging the inner workings of the attention economy. We will study\ntheories and histories of mindfulness\, illuminating the curious blind spot that exists in relation to\nlanguage and symbol use in many contemporary conversations about meditation—hence building a\ncase for the importance of the type of work we do as rhetorical scholars. And we will practice\nmindfulness meditation\, focusing\, in particular\, on mindfulness of language. This workshop will\nintroduce participants to a number of mindfulness resources and practices they can use in the\nclassroom and engage in their scholarship. My hope is that it will jumpstart new\, cutting edge research\non mindfulness and rhetoric\, as well as build collaborations that will enrich that research. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-10-rhetoric-and-mindfulness/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20270610T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20270611T170000
DTSTAMP:20260912T004609Z
CREATED:20260910T011527Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260912T004609Z
UID:28498-1812628800-1812733200@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:Workshop 11: Archaeological Rhetoric: Finding the Lost Treasures of Our Discipline
DESCRIPTION:Leaders: Robert Lively (Truckee Meadows Community College) and Richard L. Enos (Texas Christian University) \nArchaeological Rhetoric proposes to offer an RSA Summer Workshop that\nintroduces participants to the procedural and methodological practices of engaging\nin research in the history of rhetoric that discovers and analyzes material evidence.\nDrawing and adapting research objectives of archaeological research\, this workshop\nis oriented toward the discovery and analysis of material evidence that provides a\nfuller and richer context that expands our knowledge of the range\, and the research\nprocedures\, of the history of our discipline. The history of rhetoric is best\nunderstood not as a hierarchy with Greco-Roman rhetoric as the pinnacle\, but\nrather as occurring as a spectrum across time and culture. The research procedures\nand practices provided in this Workshop are intended to assist participants in\nproviding evidence of the kairos or cultural climate of rhetorics through the\ndiscovery and explication of material artifacts. This Summer Workshop not only\ntreats this process but seeks to implement them by requiring each participant to\nengage in a specific research project; this project may be new or ongoing and is\nintended to provide a concrete example of applying such research. Our intent is to\nhave the papers that come from our Workshop eventually become chapters of a book.\nShould such a book proposal be accepted for publication\, all proceeds will be\ndonated to the RSA General Fund so that future members joining RSA will have\nthe opportunity to participate in RSA Conferences and Summer Institutes. \nNote from the organizers:\nAs 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. \nThere 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.
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/workshop-11-archaeological-rhetoric-finding-the-lost-treasures-of-our-discipline/
LOCATION:Galt House Hotel\, 140 N. Fourth Street\, Louisville\, KY\, 40202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Institute
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20280524T080000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20280528T170000
DTSTAMP:20260909T160314Z
CREATED:20230823T023737Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260909T160314Z
UID:794-1842768000-1843146000@rhetoricsociety.org
SUMMARY:RSA 2028 Conference
DESCRIPTION:The 23rd RSA Biennial Conference will be held May 25 – 28\, 2028 in Baltimore\, Maryland at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. \nStay tuned for the Call for Papers\, coming in 2027!
URL:https://rhetoricsociety.org/event/2028-conference/
LOCATION:Baltimore Marriott Waterfront\, 700 Aliceanna St\, Baltimore\, Maryland\, 21202
CATEGORIES:Conference
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://rhetoricsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/brendan-beale-3LW-MzohI2o-unsplash-scaled.jpg
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END:VCALENDAR