[ecrea] Rhetoric in Society 2009

First call for papers :
Rhetoric in Society 2009
Second conference
Leiden University, the Netherlands: January 21  22  23, 2009
www.rhetoricinsociety.nl
Introduction
The classical rhetoricians already knew the 
truth: power is the preserve of those who know how to use
words. The theory of rhetorical tools was 
invented in order to advise a speaker to persuade an audience
of the legitimacy of a legal or political stance 
or to praise or blame the famous. Constraints of time,
prejudice and sheer noise could interfere with 
the speech event, and so the orator had to know how to
attract and keep attention.
No communication without rhetoric
Nowadays, we know that rhetoric pervades any 
discourse. There is no communication without
rhetoric. The need for rhetorical theory is 
therefore even more urgent, not only because we want to
know how to reach an audience that is overloaded 
with stimuli, but because we want the audience to
be capable of critically evaluating what is 
addressed to them. In a society with ever increasing
amounts of information and with media whose 
significance cannot be overestimated, we need to know
about the mechanisms playing a role in gathering, 
making and reporting of information and opinions,
and how it is processed by an audience.
Extended perspectives and genres
In order to meet these objectives it is necessary 
that the study of rhetoric be enriched with perspectives
and insights from related disciplines such as 
argumentation theory, discourse analysis, text linguistics
and cognition as well as communication and 
information theory. This recognition has resulted in a vast
body of theoretical discussions on the relation 
between rhetoric, argumentation and discourse as well
as in the emergence of empirical research of 
different kinds, and in many analytical studies in which
persuasive means in a speech event have been established.
Twenty-first century rhetoric
The traditional genres have been extended to all 
kinds of other discourse events, from public relations
texts and advertisements to mediated discourse, 
organizational communication and scientific texts.
Nowadays developments in new media and the impact 
on society of e-mail, e-zines, digital discussion
fora, blogs, civil journalism and the use of 
internet in all parts of daily life have thrown new light on
the tasks and functions of rhetoric and persuasion.
Contributions
The conference Rhetoric in Society aims at 
presenting and discussing different approaches to rhetoric.
The conference welcomes contributions within a 
wide range of subjects, from modern applications of
classical approaches, rhetorical criticism, 
argumentation studies, communication studies, to journalism
studies and new media studies.
We welcome contributions on the role of rhetoric 
and argumentation in written and oral discourse and
genres, on topics such as: public deliberation, 
controversies, legal decision-making, spin, hyphenate
writing, social change, political campaigning, 
social movements, public relations, publicity,
advertising, management, corporate internal 
communication, art and literature, visual rhetoric and
public media discourse.
The conference subject falls under four headings:
· Rhetoric in Journalism and New Media
· Rhetoric in Political Discourse
· Rhetoric in Organisational Discourse
· Rhetoric in Legal Discourse
Keynote speakers:
· Joel Best is Professor of Sociology and 
Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware,
Newark DE. From the theoretical perspective of 
social construction, Best has published many
articles and more than ten books about the 
rhetoric of media in society, for example
Threatened Children: Rhetoric and Concern about 
Child-Victims (1990), Random Violence:
How we Talk about New Crimes and New Victims 
(1999) and  his latest book  about the
way society constructs his own major problems: Social Problems (2007).
http://www.udel.edu/soc/faculty/vita/jbestF06.pdf .
· Daniel J. O'Keefe is Professor of Communication 
Studies at Northwestern University
(Evanston, Illinois, USA). His publications 
concern rhetoric, communication, and
argumentation theory, with a special focus on 
persuasion theory and meta-analysis of
persuasion effects research. He has received many 
awards for his publications and teaching,
including the Rhetorical and Communication Theory 
Division Distinguished Scholar Award.
O'Keefe is the author of Persuasion: Theory and 
research (Sage Publications, 1990; 2nd ed.
2002). www.dokeefe.net
· Ineke Sluiter is Professor of Ancient Greek at 
the University of Leiden. Her interests concern
rhetoric, cultural identity, ancient ideas on 
language and literature, ancient values and norms
and free speech. She has dealt with these 
subjects in many publications, in which she often
draws lines between the classical past and the 
present, as is reflected in titles like
'Communicating Cynicism: Diogenes Gangsta Rap'. 
Her presentation for the prestigious
annual Dies Lecture for the university's 430th 
anniversary was also devoted to this theme.
http://leidsewetenschappers.leidenuniv.nl/show_en.php3?medewerker_id=63
Abstracts
· Deadline for abstracts is 15th June 2008, 12.00 a.m. Central European time.
· Contributions are accepted in English only.
· Please send your abstract in max. 300 words edited in MS Word to
(InfoRhetoricLeiden /at/ let.leidenuniv.nl). The 
abstract should include a title, a research
question, an indication of the theoretical 
framework, methodology, results and conclusion.
The academic committee will review the abstracts. 
Before September 15 you will hear
whether your proposal has been accepted.
Proceedings
Proceedings will be digitally published after the 
conference on the conference website and cd. A
selection of the proceedings will be published in book form.
Fees
· ¬ 200,- (including lunches, coffee, tea and other drinks (borrel)
· Special rate for undergraduate students: ¬ 10,- per day (lunch not included)
More details
The first and successful edition of Rhetoric in 
Society was organized by Aalborg University
(Denmark), November 21-24, 2006. See http://diskurs.hum.aau.dk/rhetorics2006/
The website for the new, 2009-conference is: www.rhetoricinsociety.nl.
Leiden is located in the heart of the Randstad 
and cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague
and Utrecht are a stones throw away. Schiphol, 
our international airport, is also just fifteen minutes
away. The university city of Leiden is easily 
reached due to its central location either by car or by
public transport.
A visit to Leiden is not complete without a walk 
to the Burcht (Leidens citadel). You can virtually see
the whole city from this old refuge. You will see 
the many canals, church spires, narrow alleys,
monumental buildings and private almshouses that 
define Leiden. Visit Leiden and walk on the
cobblestones of narrow streets, take a tour along 
our canals and enjoy the historical façades,
monuments and museums.
The academic committee,
prof. dr. Ton van Haaften (Speech Communication, 
Faculty of Arts Leiden University)
dr. Henrike Jansen (Speech Communication, Faculty of Arts Leiden University)
dr. Jaap de Jong (Journalism and New Media, Faculty of Arts Leiden University)
dr. Willem Koetsenruijter (Journalism and New 
Media, Faculty of Arts Leiden University)

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