The need to reflect on the possibilities of written and oral discourse is ongoing. What becomes of the word is neither timeless nor sheerly contingent. The grounds, operations, and power of human expression are a gift not (a) given. The event, potential, and limit of rhetoric is disclosed within the signs of the times, including the alleged exhaustion of utopian energy, the condemnation of theory as self-indulgence, and the failure of rhetoric itself to reflect on how its various historical-disciplinary idioms might energize social-political critique.
The University of South Carolina Conference on Rhetorical Theory is a conference series dedicated to the critical and interdisciplinary study of rhetorical theory. Convened by the USC Rhetoric Program, the series seeks to open and sustain a space for scholars from a variety of perspectives and fields to undertake dialogue and advanced study that maps, traverses, and builds the terrain of rhetorical theory. Foremost, the forum’s creation is rooted in the apparent need to ask the question of theory, the problem of what may yet be disclosed by directed inquiry into the ontological, conceptual, performative, and ethical standing of rhetorical life. Through a series of events that thematize various historical and contemporary problematics, the conference series seeks to support and sustain a conversation amongst those interested to imagine rhetoric’s unspoken possibilities.
Inaugurated in 2008 and convened again October 2009, the next conference will be held in 2011.
Requests for information and questions about the conference may be sent to the conference directors at: uscrhetoricaltheory@gmail.com.
Read the Full Conference Series Announcement.
The 2009 University of South Carolina Conference on Rhetorical Theory
Rhetorical Questions
The potential of rhetoric’s theory may abide in its questions, the puzzles that inaugurate, support, and follow from theoretical reflection. And yet, the art of questioning is frequently wrapped in a certain silence; a “good” question is often thought to be a function of unspeakable inspiration, just as the appearance of a question – originally, a torture – can strike us as a demand for definitive reply. Against these presumptions, the work of discerning and expressing rhetorical questions – as questions – may afford a way to clarify the (contingent) grounds of theory and disclose its (overlooked) possibilities.
Readings for Thursday Evening Discussion
Click here: Conference Question Readings
The 2008 University of South Carolina Conference on Rhetorical Theory
Engaging Theory