Rhetorical Invention

Greatest Evolvability: A Place of Chaos, White Rabbits, Fear, Receptivity and Invention

by Jason Wirtz

published in New Writing

Tracing the Images on the Ceiling: Reading as Invention

by Jason Wirtz

published in Writing on the Edge

The RHIZOME Project

by Martin E. Rosenberg

_The RHIZOME Project_ (1988-91; @1991), co-authored with Tom I. Ellis, and created in Hypercard. _RHIZOME_ was a critical thinking hypertext which offered creative as well as rhetorical and logical heuristics for the writing of a range of undergraduate essays. It was available at numerous writing programs in the early 1990's, and several articles were generated to explain its theoretical as well as pedagogical implications. Two other programmers, Stuart Selber, and Johndan Johnson-Eiola, worked briefly on the interface in 1991.

The RHIZOME Project was an experiment in instructional software to use the decision-tree environment of hypertext to... more The RHIZOME Project was an experiment in instructional software to use the decision-tree environment of hypertext to model specific sequential (as in narrative and logic) and non-sequential (as in creative and associative) thought strategies to help students write academic and creative essays. It was available at numerous writing programs in the early 1990's, including U Michigan, UC Berkeley, ASU, University of Illinois and Carnegie Mellon U. Comprised of separate "stacks" each modeling a specific heuristic, these stacks included:
1. Jazzwriting--a non-linear and recursive environment for generating and then exfoliating ideas in response to an automated or self-initiated prompt. Designed with the composing practices of BeBop jazz musicians in mind (improvisation/composition/improvisation), it offered recursive access to strategies for the improvisation of thoughts, and guided students to explore their more formal elaboration according to the rules of rhetoric, which was then linked to another "stack called:
2. Brainstorming--a non-linear, yet also sequential cluster of rhetorical heuristics: "Narrative," "Description," "Definition," "Comparison/Contrast," "Argument,"--each of which consitituted a "stack" which contained a sequence of prompts (often based on challenging heuristics such as Kenneth Burke's Pentad, for Narrative) to help expand the range of implications of ideas generated spontaneously in Jazzwriting. It was also possible to "jump" randomly or deliberately from one to the other of these heuristics, so that five separate threads of thought might be developed from the initial Jazzwriting responses. All five of these stacks then were projected into the next stack:
3. Arguprompt--which guided students through a series of prompts that would generate positions, assumptions, arguments and evidence, objections and replies to those objections, in such a way that each prompt generated a paragraph in sequence. At any point in the process of "inventing" and "arranging" an argument, the user could highlight and then export a particular assertion into another "stack" called:
4. Enthymemes--which would, through the use of dialog boxes, center that assertion into the form of an Enthymeme, which would then prompt the student to respond to a few questions. Answering these additional questions would then trigger the hypertext program to translate the Enthymeme into a formal syllogism; and then offer the opportunity to translate that socratic syllogism into a Toulmin unit of logic, with assumptions and grounds for those assumptions. Furthermore, from Arguprompt, the students could access another stack called:
5. Style--which would offer students exercises to work on semantics, grammar and syntax.
As the student progressed through the sequence of four distinct environments, or worked exclusively with just one of them, the student could export generated text to a word processing program for further engagement with the processes of invention, arrangement and style.

Informed by the specific practices of jazz musicians and composers, the behavior of bifurcating systems in non-equilibrium thermodynamics described by Ilya Prigogine, as well as the non-linear models from philosophy exemplified by the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari and their concept of the rhizome, the project was an application of the theories explored in my theoretical dissertation: _Being and Becoming: Physics, Hegemony, Art and the Nomad in the Works of Ezra Pound, Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Beckett, John Cage and Thomas Pynchon_ (1989). This project was followed by an online real-time text-based virtual reality classroom of multiple rooms with functional tools at the Media Lab MOO called _MER's Fungal Palace_ (1996), with which I taught several graduate seminars linked to seminars at other universities (1996-8); and _Chess RHIZOME_, an exploratory hypermedia database to explore the contradictory epistemological implications of the metaphor of chess across all disciplinary formations (1998).

Pour Protagoras: Angenot et le sens du social. Dialogues de sourds. Traité de rhétorique antilogique de Marc Angenot. Mille et une nuits, 450 p. Dialogues de sourds. …

by Yan Hamel

“The Wolf and the Sorcerer: From Psycho to Schizo

by Robert Leston

Under Review. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. http://kairos.technorhetoric.net Digital Video and Webtext.

Recent work in philosophy and rhetorical/cultural studies has begun to turn towards the notion that humans and objects... more Recent work in philosophy and rhetorical/cultural studies has begun to turn towards the notion that humans and objects share an equivalent ontological status, a turn consistent with the question of the animal. This project begins by asking, given the speeds of its technological advancements, to what extent does humanity seek to eradicate its own inhuman nature? Since the pre-Socratics, the human has been defined as “zoon logon echon,” the animal whose being is essentially delineated by his ability to speak. This concern with the uses of language has resulted in what Deleuze and Guattari call “humankind’s fundamental neurosis,” the will to interpret, or what they call the “interpretosis of the priest.” Interpretation follows the formula, “You said X, but what you really mean is Y,” and is carried out in order to make a unity, to deny the truth of the thing and to transfigure it so that it conforms to an idea. Thus, the Jew, Negro, savage, woman, dog, child, cow, chicken, statement, and dream are never complete in and of themselves. I will argue that such an act of interpretation is an act of cruelty grounded on identification with humanity, an identification that is ordered upon the rigorous denial of the human’s animal desires and passions that immanently unfold from the will to power and thus give birth to the human. Historically, to be human means to deny our animal natures. For Deleuze and Guattari, overcoming this denial is a matter of “becoming-animal,” a mode of becoming that leads to the celebrated disappearance of the human and a becoming-imperceptible. In an age of carbon footprints and cultural narcissism, Deleuze and Guattari have much to offer scholars and pedagogues interested in using writing as a way of reconnecting scholarship and students to the worlds of animals and things.

Leston, Robert. “Unhinged: Kairos and the Invention of the Untimely” Atlantic Journal of Communication. 21.1 (2013):

by Robert Leston

Forthcoming

The argument comes in two parts and, at a general level, is straightforward. The first part depends on first... more The argument comes in two parts and, at a general level, is straightforward. The first part depends on first identifying and tracing this pattern of thought taking place in the scholarship. Following this trajectory reveals that while the scholarship has added considerably to a refined understanding of the environment surrounding kairos, it has not furthered the inventive potential of kairos because it has been overly invested in how kairos arises from historical and cultural forces. Traditionally, kairos has been seen as a “timely” concept, and in the traditional manner, invention emerges from the timeliness of a cultural and historical situation. Consequently, invention can thus be said to be largely determined by the environment and history to which it belongs. The grouping I follow below has added to the understanding of the complexity of that environment, but it has done so at the cost of thinking of how to add to the understanding of invention. The second part hopes to invigorate studies in kairic invention by drawing the reader’s attention to those aspects that lie outside these historical and cultural forces. What if invention was considered from a bolder perspective? What if it was thought of as the potential to shift historical courses through the injection of something new or alien into a system or situation? What if invention was thought of as innovative potential to change the course of history rather than being determined by it? Why has rhetoric accepted the determination that rhetorical invention deals merely with finding the known while, at least since Francis Bacon, new knowledge has become the province of the sciences? The second line of argument, then, is to rethink kairos at the level of its silent and hidden potential. I go on to show that taking advantage of the radically innovative potential of kairos. requires attention to its untimely dimension.

“Into the After.word with Victor Vitanza.” Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. 12.3 (Summer 2008). Digital Video and Webtext.

by Robert Leston

First presented at the CCCC conference in Chicago 2006, "From Gallery to Webtexts" succeeded in turning a... more First presented at the CCCC conference in Chicago 2006, "From Gallery to Webtexts" succeeded in turning a formal meeting space into an gallery-like atmosphere where each individual's multimedia project stood on its own. This environment, unheard of at a writing conference in the past, implies that the production of scholarship is slowly changing towards hybrid and interdisciplinary practices; in addition, the showcasing of these works in a gallery-like environment shows how the field's consumption of scholarship has begun evolving/involving as well.

All of the presenters built multimedia presentations and displayed them on laptops. The gallery allowed audience members to mingle, drift around the room, speak to the artists, and become immersed in whatever presentations struck their interest. While writing teachers and researchers have been advocating student-centered classrooms for years, writing researchers—up until now—have failed to take their own advice when presenting their own research. It should come as no surprise that Victor Vitanza, a scholar who has blazed new territories in rhetoric and composition for years, once again has been at the forefront in changing the thoughts and practices of our own intellectual work. Part of the work of this webtext, "Into the After.word with Victor Vitanza," is to register Vitanza's contributions to how we think about writing.

This video has three primary and related goals. The first is to explain the nature of how the gallery environment marks a change for how scholars in rhetoric and composition share their work. The second is to show how such a change would not have been possible without the influence of Vitanza. (Vitanza was himself responsible for the idea of the multimedia gallery.) Third, because of the influence that Vitanza and the program that he taught at for over twenty years have had on the fields of rhetoric and composition and because that program (known in some circles as The Arlington School) has been disbanded, the piece sets out to chronicle contributions in our field's history that should not go unnoticed. The Arlington School has a rich and robust history. Now that the program has ended, this video, while it may imply a sort of memorial to some, is more interested in recording those contributions and looking towards a future where the audience becomes inspired to push and pursue their own intellectual interests. The video thus moves metaleptically from gallery to Vitanza to the UTA rhetoric program.

Like the argument, the video works from three primary sources. The first is footage from The Art of Video Art, produced by Lobo Pasolini. This video footage is of 1950s housewives using what was then modern day technology in the forms of television sets and microwave ovens. The colors are vibrant, the gestures glitchy, and at times the characters have almost a mime-like hyper-real quality. The visual is contrasted against two narrators' voices (one female, one male) speaking about the CCCC gallery. The video then moves into a short discussion of Vitanza via a quote from David Blakesley, editor of The Writing Instructor, that offers  background information for anyone not familiar with Vitanza's work. The video proceeds by discussing The Arlington School's contributions to the field by including actual photographs of some of the mentioned events as well as integrating--for the purposes of juxtaposition--clips from Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera. The audio narration is thus layered over the black and white shots that, by today's standards, continue to be new, visually exciting, and more creative and exploitative of the film medium than anything that one can readily view today (even though Vertov's film is almost a century old). The third part of the video launches into a discussion that moves back and forth between video footage of Vitanza and the narration. This narration specifically addresses the topic of manifestos and explains to the audience the importance of being open to the particularities of each individual moment. The piece comes to an end by putting into practice one of Vitanza's most famous slogans by inviting the audience to make their own gallery-like presentations by "just drifting."

References

Blakesley, David. (2001). Introduction. _The Writing Instructor_. Retrieved November 15, 2007, from http://www.writinginstructor.com/hypertexts/vitanza/index.html

Pasolini, Lobo (Producer). (2007). The art of video art. Retrieved November 15, 2007, from http://www.archive.org/details/TheArtOfVideoArt

Vertov, Dziga (Director). (1928). Man with a movie camera. Retrieved November 15, 2007, from http://www.archive.org/details/ChelovekskinoapparatomManWithAMovieCamera

“The Chora of the Twin Towers” Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture. 10 (September 11, 2011). Scholarly Digital Video. Runtime: 1:15.

by Robert Leston

with Geof Carter and Sarah Arroyo

This project sets a new precedent for sustained scholarly investigation in the medium of video. Determined to examine... more This project sets a new precedent for sustained scholarly investigation in the medium of video. Determined to examine how the former ground zero and current World Trade Center site could be thought of as a space for invention (but also mourning), the authors draw upon the ancient concept of “chora.”

Conceived of by ancient philosophers and reconceived by contemporary rhetoricians as an undecided, undetermined space to be filled by the unknown, the chora has always been a vessel for non-generic possibility. Through combinations and juxtapositions of journalism, art, music, sound, image, and theory, the authors put choric possibilities into play and present a project that plays the post-9/11 world in various tonalities, timbres, and tunings.

Their efforts take viewers through a broad spectrum of intellectual curiosity and emotional turmoil, making us confront the specters haunting our personal and cultural memories while always encouraging us to twist, spin, and dance those memories into new “planes” of sound, dizzying flights of fancy, and high wire acts on lines as thin as air.

Enculturation is pleased to present this video project by Robert Leston, Geof Carter and Sarah Arroyo commemorating the 10-year anniversary of September 11. After clicking the image below to launch the project, work your way consecutively down the playlist. The project is best viewed in full-screen mode.

. “Towers Open Fire: From Knowing to Doing” Computers and Composition Online. Special Issue on Sound in/as Compositional Space (Fall 2006).

by Robert Leston

As the theme music plays, take alook at the buttons at the bottom of the page. The play button starts an audio... more As the theme music plays, take alook at the buttons at the bottom of the page. The play button starts an audio composition/sound experimint called "Towers Open Fire." This sound experiment is inspired by the film made by William Burroughs in 1963 that carries the same name.

A Creative Machine: Reconstructing the Media History of Theodor Fontane's Library and Reading Practices

by Petra S. McGillen

Accepted pending revisions by The Germanic Review (peer-reviewed journal).

" Despisers of the Commonplace": Meta-topoi and Para-topoi in Attic Oratory, pp 361-384 Rhetorica 25.4 (2007)

by Jon Hesk

The forensic oratory of classical Athens exhibits two strategies which markedly display their departure from... more The forensic oratory of classical Athens exhibits two strategies which markedly display their departure from content-specific commonplaces. The self-conscious “meta-topos” and the elaborative “para-topos” are partly reliant upon the display and appreciation of innovation for their persuasive power. This valorization of creativity can be explained by evidence that rhetorical novelty was sometimes encouraged by teachers of rhetoric and was certainly influenced by the competitive display of verse performance genres. Examples of “meta-topoi” and “para-topoi” are discussed with a view to extending our understanding of originality in Attic oratory and of how we might identify instances of it.

“We Have Nothing to Fear But…”: A Rhetorical Analysis of Fear in Post 9-11 Sermons, “ Chapter 3 (pp. 67-89)

by Mark Gring

in Catherine Chaput, Mary Jean Braun, and Danika M. Brown (Eds) Entertaining Fear: Rhetoric and the Political Economy of Social Control, Peter Lang Publishers, 2009

Preachers, Terrorism, and War: Rhetorical Analysis of Sermons Responding to 9-11

by Mark Gring

published as Chapter 12 (pp. 269-296) in, O’Hair, Dan; Heath, Robert; Ledlow, Gerald R.; Ayotte, Kevin; (Eds). Terrorism: Communication and Rhetorical Perspectives. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc, 2008

Networked Expertise in the Era of Many-to-many Communication: On Wikipedia and Invention

by Damien Smith Pfister

This essay extends the observations made in E. Johanna Hartelius’ The Rhetoric of Expertise about the nature of... more This essay extends the observations made in E. Johanna Hartelius’ The Rhetoric of Expertise about the nature of expertise in digital contexts. I argue that digital media introduce a scale of communication—many-to-many—that reshapes how the invention of knowledge occurs. By examining how knowledge production on Wikipedia occurs, I illustrate how many-to-many communication introduces a new model of “participatory expertise.” This model of participatory expertise challenges traditional information routines by elevating procedural expertise over subject matter expertise and opening up knowledge production to the many. Additionally, by hosting multiperspectival conversations on Wikipedia, the participatory model of expertise introduces epistemic turbulence into traditionally tranquil encyclopedia culture.

The Logos of the Blogosphere: Flooding the Zone, Invention, and Attention in the Lott Imbroglio

by Damien Smith Pfister

This essay examines the significance of a particular metaphor, flooding the zone, which gained prominence as an... more This essay examines the significance of a particular metaphor, flooding the zone, which gained prominence as an account of bloggers' argumentative prowess in the wake of Senator Trent Lott's toast at Strom Thurmond's centennial birthday party. I situate the growth of the blogosphere in the context of the political economy of the institutional mass media at the time and argue that the blogosphere is an alternative site for the invention of public argument. By providing an account of how the blogosphere serves as a site of invention by flooding the zone with densely interlinked coverage of a controversy, this essay theorizes how the networked public sphere facilitates invention with speed, agonism, and copiousness. The essay then identifies how flooding the zone has been adopted by corporations and the state in order to blunt spontaneous argumentation emerging from the periphery of communication networks. Key Words: networked public sphere, blogging, invention, Habermas, astroturfing

Continuing to be a Globally Assertive U.S.

by William Harlow

Communication Currents, Volume 4, Issue 1, February 2009

While the words of President Barack Obama's inaugural address were powerful, they likely did not presage much in the... more While the words of President Barack Obama's inaugural address were powerful, they likely did not presage much in the way of an actual change in U.S. foreign policy.

Silence as the U.S. Strategic Response to Nigeria's Elections

by William Harlow

This is the first galley proof.  The final draft should appear in Relevant Rhetoric in early 2011.

The U.S. practiced a rhetoric of silence in response to the 2007 elections in Nigeria.  Those elections were... more The U.S. practiced a rhetoric of silence in response to the 2007 elections in Nigeria.  Those elections were deeply flawed, and the U.S. response was ineffective.  This paper judges that silence is an effective tactic when events are already moving in a favorable direction, but that it is a poor strategic choice without something specific being gained in return.

The Triumph of Silence: President George H.W. Bush’s Refusal to Denounce Apartheid in South Africa

by William Harlow

Attached are the page proofs to the article.  This issue of the journal arrived in my mailbox on March 28, 2011.

President George H. W. Bush was widely criticized for not publicly denouncing the apartheid regime in South Africa.... more President George H. W. Bush was widely criticized for not publicly denouncing the apartheid regime in South Africa. His silence was attributed to a lack of understanding or caring about the issues at hand. However, President Bush was firmly aware of the situation and made an intentional strategic choice not to speak. In this paper, I argue that remaining silent was the best available strategic choice. In addition to the strategic question, I examine the role that silence plays in a democratic system where people expect their leaders to speak on critical issues.

Aristotle's "Special Topics" In Rhetorical Practice and Pedagogy

by Carolyn R. Miller

Rhetoric Society Quarterly 17 (Winter 1987): 61–70.

Invention In Technical and Scientific Discourse: A Prospective Survey

by Carolyn R. Miller