Kathleen E. Kendall

On withholding political voice: An analysis of the political vocabulary of a “nonpolitical” speech community

This analysis attempts to identify and explain some underlying rationales for the withholding of citizen voice from the democratic political arena. Of special interest are the ways in which such rationales are located in speakers’ everyday political words and meanings. For support, this analysis examines the political vocabulary of lumber‐industrial workers who claim to know virtually nothing about politics and to detest what little they do know about it. Contrary to scholars who commonly treat those who withhold their voice from the democratic political arena as individual cases, this analysis of the workers’ vocabulary of politics shows the withholding of voice to be an active choice grounded in community‐based meanings that are discursively produced in ongoing interactions within the speech community.

The Ideal Candidate A Study of the Desired Attributes of the Public and the Media Across Two Presidential Campaigns

The view of image as a transaction between what a candidate does and the evaluative response that voters have to it creates at least three critical questions as yet unanswered in the literature of political communication. First, although the power of the media to affect the success or failure of political campaigns and candidates has been demonstrated by researchers and is popularly believed, do the views of individual media members regarding the qualities necessary for presidential candidates differ significantly from those of the electorate? Second, although voters share many beliefs about the personal qualities that presidential candidates ought to possess, do these attributes vary from presidential election to election? Finally, although voter assessment of a candidates image is a major determinant of voter behavior and voters have a mental picture of an ideal candidate that they use to evaluate actual candidates, do the evaluative dimensions differ by party affiliation? The answers to these questions were determined from the results of a survey of 236 professional journalists covering and 444 voting citizens attending presidential rallies in New Hampshire in 1988 and 1992.

Frances Wright on women's rights: Eloquence versus ethos

Frances Wright, a Scotswoman and first woman public speaker in America, failed to persuade 1828–1830 audiences of the importance of womens rights because of her low extrinsic ethos. She met all the criteria for “eloquence” defined by Longinus, and contemporary audiences granted her high intrinsic ethos; however, her radical behavior and ideas such as the invasion of the male lecture platform, association with free love practices, and attacks on organized religion violated societal norms and thereby mitigated her effectiveness.

Do real people ever give speeches

This study examines the frequency of speechmaking on the part of blue collar workers and their families, and studies correlations between their speechmaking and the socio‐economic factors of education, age, income, and sex.

Sex differences in political communication during presidential campaigns

This study examines and tests sex differences in interpersonal political communication during a period of one week prior to the 1988 presidential election. The data for the study were collected from 567 respondents selected by a systematic random sampling procedure among adult residents in a medium sized city in New York. The results demonstrated that both men and women participated in political discussion quite actively, much more frequently than previous studies have reported. Men still talked about the campaign with significantly more people than women. Women were much more likely than men to name their spouses as their main political discussants, while men were more likely to mention friends and co‐workers. There was a very high congruency between peoples perception of their discussants’ voting choices, their own intention and their actual vote. This tendency was especially strong among women. This finding suggests that people talk mainly with people in social groups who agree with them, indicating t...

Why Did Khizr Khan’s Speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention Go Viral? Personifying Collective Values in an Epideictic Speech

On July 28, 2016, Mr. Khizr Khan, an American Muslim immigrant, gave a short speech at the Democratic National Convention. Khan’s speech eulogized his soldier son, attacked the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, and endorsed the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. The speech went “viral” within minutes, circulating rapidly on the Internet, evoking an immediate response on social media. Barely 2 days later, Trump attacked the Khan speech, the Khans responded, and the event dominated the news for days. The event and its aftermath “emerged as an unexpected and potentially pivotal flash point in the general election” (Burns, Haberman, & Parket, 2016). Why did this speech have such an effect? Using principles from Aristotle’s concept of the epideictic speech, this study examines (1) the role of surprise in the structure and visual presentation of Khan’s speech, as well as (2) the way in which Khan expressed personal and collective anger. Trump’s postconvention responses magnified the speech effect through heavy media coverage.

Reviews of teaching/literature

Handbook of rhetorical and communication theory Arnold, C. C. & Bowers, J. W. (Eds.). (1984) Handbook of rhetorical and communication theory. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Mythography: The study of myths and rituals Doty, W. G. (1986). Mythography: The study of myths and rituals. University, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press. Political campaign communication, principles and practices Trent, J. S. & Friedenberg, R. V. (1983). Political campaign communication, principles and practices. New York, New York: Praeger. Paper. The presidency and national security policy Hoxie, R. G. (Ed.). (1984). The presidency and national security policy. New York, NY: Center for the Study of the Presidency. Paper. Public speaking Dance, F. E. X. & Zak‐Dance, C. C. (1986). Public speaking. New York, NY: Harper & Row. Black street speech: its history, structure, and survival Baugh, J. (1983). Black street speech: Its history, structure, and survival. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. Paper.