Karlyn Kohrs Campbell

The rhetoric of women’s liberation: An oxymoron

The rhetoric of womens liberation merits separate critical treatment because it is a unique genre of rhetoric. Its distinctive substantive characteristics arise from the peculiarly intense moral conflict it generates so that moderate and reformist options are closed to feminist advocates. Its distinctive stylistic features include emphasis on affective proofs and personal testimony, participation and dialogue, self‐disclosure and self‐criticism, autonomous decision making, and “violations of the reality structure.”

Rhetorical hybrids: Fusions of generic elements

Historians and critics have recognized the existence of pieces of rhetoric that blend the elements of different genres into compatible wholes. This essay examines the hybrid genre created by ascendant vice presidents in response to the deaths of presidents.

Style and content in the rhetoric of early Afro‐American feminists

Analysis of selected speeches by feminists active in early Afro‐American protest reveals significant similarities and differences in their rhetoric and that of white feminists of the period. Sojourner Truths speeches are similar in style and content; Ida B. Wells addresses differ in style, but her analysis of race and sex recurs in the rhetoric of Southern white feminists; Mary Church Terrells speech on segregation exhibits “feminine” style but reflects vast differences in concerns.

Femininity and feminism: To be or not to be a woman

This essay treats the rhetorical movement called feminism. It argues that the two feminist social movements, one from 1848 and the other from 1963, are one rhetorical movement. Feminism as a rhetorical movement is typified by an ideological conflict between the concepts of “womanhood” and “personhood” and by the rhetorical strategies summed up by the term “consciousness raising.“

Stanton's “the solitude of self”: A rationale for feminism

Stantons “The Solitude of Self” is analyzed as a philosophical statement of the principles underlying the nineteenth century struggle for womans rights in the United States. Its rhetorical power remains undiminished because of its lyric structure and tone and its tragic, existential rationale for feminism.

Gender and Genre: Loci of invention and contradiction in the earliest speeches by U.S. women

Gender identifies the social roles deemed appropriate for both sexes. Rhetorical genres are also social constructions, but given prohibitions against women speaking, historically, virtually all rhetorical action was gendered masculine. Accordingly, the earliest women speakers faced a double bind that not only spurred them to heights of inventional creativity but also generated contradictions that limited their ability to produce rhetorical masterpieces. At the same time, their challenges emboldened other women, and their arguments became resources for subsequent women speakers. These claims are developed and illustrated through analysis of texts of two of the earliest known speeches by U.S. women, Priscilla Masons 1793 salutatory oration and Deborah Sampson Gannetts 1802 lecture tour.

Consciousness‐raising: Linking theory, criticism, and practice

Abstract As a form of discursive practice, consciousness‐raising links recovery, recuperation, and the development of theory. The recovery of texts by women and recovery from the dynamics of suppression by which womens voices were silenced encompasses an enormous conversation among women through time. As a recuperative process criticism promotes an appreciation of womens artistry and eloquence and challenges the capacity of traditional theory to analyze or evaluate womens discourse. Finally, extracting theoretical principles from the practices of women through time suggests alternative ways of viewing rhetoric.

The nature of criticism in rhetorical and communicative studies

Criticism is a systematic activity whose structure is defined by and derived from the qualities of the communicative and rhetorical acts which are the objects it examines as well as its medium of expression. To understand the nature of the activity, one must examine it from the perspective of its reflexive, cognitive, dialectical, and evaluative dimensions.

Korean president Roh Tae‐Woo's 1988 inaugural address: Campaigning for investiture

On February 25, 1988, Roh Tae‐woo delivered an inaugural address as the newly elected president of the Republic of Korea. As the culmination of a difficult political campaign, it exemplifies campaign rhetoric that fuses deliberative and epideictic elements. As the first presidential inaugural following a peaceful transition of power in a nation with a democratic constitution, it manifests qualities that Campbell and Jamieson identify as typifying U.S. presidential inaugurals, but in ways linked to recent Korean political history. Moreover, consistent with Confucian tradition, Roh argued by indirection, intimating future policies by juxtaposing allusions, prompting the audience to make inferences that would legitimize his presidency and invest him in office. Finally, when compared to those of his predecessors, Rohs inaugural reflects the link between public discourse and the political system in which it emerges.

Mr. and Mrs. President: From the Trumans to the Clintons (review)

ity in 1995, it could bargain in a productive fashion in 1996. The results are clear to see—both parties cooperated to pass legislation and both were confirmed by the voters in 1996. The final chapter of the book, then, returns to the lessons offered in the opening and confirmed in the case study. This book is a clear, sensible, and useful guide to the political events that transpired between 1992 and 1996. It mounts a powerful attack on the proponents of “party government” and a convincing argument for the productivity of the present system. Happily, the book is so sensible that it refuses to engage in the ritual lamentations for the so-called collapse of rhetorical deliberation, civic comity, legislative achievement, and of Western civilization itself. Instead, Jones actually turns to the facts and to the record. This volume is a breath of fresh air in an overheated political moment. One can only hope that Jones will turn his eye to the rest of the Clinton presidency.