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Seminar Descriptions
The convention program will also be enlivened the inclusion of a number of themed convention seminars.
All conference participants (whether senior faculty, new faculty, or graduate/undergraduate students)
will join one of the convention seminars—each one exploring a topic related to the conference theme,
united by a common set of readings (which participants are asked to complete in advance of the conference),
and led by a notable Burkean scholar. Seminar leaders will be in touch with participants prior to the
conference, after registration is completed.
After opening with an orienting address, each seminar leader will moderate the ensuing
conversation and the contributions of the other seminar’s participants.
The seminars will meet once daily, though participants are encouraged to continue their
conversations over breaks and into the evening—and, potentially, beyond.
Burke in the 1930’s—Ann George
In “Revolutionary Symbolism in America,” Burke argued that leftist propaganda would be more
effective if built around the symbol of “the people” rather than “the worker.” With this move,
Michael Denning claims, Burke “inadvertently became the foremost rhetorical theorist of the Popular
Front.” Denning is right about the theory except for the inadvertent part: Burke’s work during the
1930s was explicitly designed to theorize the rhetorical means of, and ethical grounds for, arguing
for radical shifts in American culture. This workshop will investigate Burke’s Depression-era
rhetorical theory—how and why he developed it, how he practiced it—especially in Permanence and Change.
We’ll use a pre-conference wiki to circulate questions about this text, and during the workshop,
we’ll discuss ways archival material can help answer those questions. Main texts: Permanence and Change;
selections from Kenneth Burke in the 1930s (George and Selzer).
Transcendence by Perspective—Robert Wess
This seminar will examine carefully part 3 of A Rhetoric of Motives (“Order”), where
“transcendence by perspective” appears in Burke’s theorizing of “ultimate” terminologies.
Seminar discussions will no doubt range over Burke’s work in general, but they will be
anchored to the concrete in the focus on this single text in particular. In the process,
it’s likely that seminar participants will arrive at multiple analyses of this rich Burke
text. Participants may even wish to discuss strategies for reading Burke. One possibility is to
analyze part 3 as an organized philosophical argument consisting of three main stages:
(1) 183-208, (2) 208-67, (3) 267-333 (U of California P, 1969). Other strategies would no
doubt analyze it differently.
Burkean Criticism—James F. Klumpp and Robert L. Scott
This workshop will be a chance to exchange suggestions on the revision of a Burkean criticism in progress.
Participants should prepare a draft of a criticism to circulate among workshop participants prior
to the conference. The draft should attain insight from at least one Burkean idea,
should be 3000-5000 words, and should include a short reading list (no more than 50 pages)
of Burkean material used in shaping the project. Drafts will be due to the leaders by June 1 in
.pdf format plus either .doc or .wpd formats. In addition to preparation of their criticism,
participants will have the obligation to read the relevant Burkean material and the criticism of
three to seven fellow seminarists. Workshop sessions will involve discussions of Burkean critical
approaches with focus on the draft criticism submitted by workshop participants.
Burke and Feminism—Mari Boor Tonn
This seminar will engage with the scholarly debate over the
compatibility of feminism with the theories of Kenneth Burke. Whereas
investigations into tensions or, conversely, intersections between Burke
and feminism has occurred to a large extent in converstions over theory,
this seminar will ask participants to supplement these theoretical
discussions with critical applications of Burke to historical and
contemporary issues relevant to the feminist enterprise. Examination of
Burkeian criticism will focus on if, why, and how Burkeian ideas
illuminate questions and concerns significant to feminist inquiry.
Possible topics for exploration include female agency (which Burke
would term "agenthood"), Order, the body, and logology. Burke texts will
include selections from several works including but not limited to A
Grammar of Motives, Rhetoric of Religion, and Language as Symbolic Action.
Burke and Shakespeare—Scott Newstok
Burke published essays on Shakespeare throughout the full span of his career. In part on account of
these scattered appearances, his Shakespearean criticism has not often been read as comprising a larger
body of work. Instead, Burke's responses have either been isolated unto themselves, or they have been
contextualized as readings within the volumes in which they appeared. While Burke's Shakespearean
criticism inevitably (both rewardingly and frustratingly) spirals beyond Shakespeare, this seminar
suggests that participants read with Shakespearean blinders, as it were, in order to evaluate the
trajectory of Burke's engagement with one particular author. To that end, seminar participants are
asked to circulate in advance brief position statements that explore the ways in which Burke's
Shakespearean criticism converses with itself. The main text for this seminar is the edited collection
of Burke's responses to this famous playwright, Kenneth Burke on Shakespeare.
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