Invectives against ignoramuses: Petrarch and the defense of humanist eloquence

ABSTRACT

Francesco Petrarch was a pioneering figure not only in the study of the humanities, but also in the defense of the humanities. A prolific writer and avid reader of the classics, particularly of the historians, rhetoricians, and poets, Petrarch cleared the way for humanistic studies in an age dominated by rigid scholasticism. Not surprisingly, then, Petrarch also had to defend himself against attacks from establishment elites who condemned the new studies as useless distractions from the pursuit of knowledge, by which they meant the study of syllogisms. I argue in this essay that Petrarch's invectives against his detractors offer a unique and communicative defense of the humanities that does not rely on the traditional recourse to civic humanism, a tradition that arose only subsequent to Petrarch. In his understanding of humanism, the value of humanistic studies is found in their capacity to produce a combination of humility and love—humility by expanding the circumference of our experience and exposing the limitations of our knowledge, and love by the capacity to create unity out of division. Furthermore, Petrarch defines the enduring opponent of the humanities as the scholastic ignoramus, a character that endures today.     

To the humanities: what does communication studies give?

ABSTRACT

This special issue of Review of Communication presents new offerings of the study of communication, forging present and future humanities. This Introduction engages the six essays in this special issue—which extend and intersect across categories of the humanistic study of communication: communication philosophy and ethics, rhetorical theory, history, pedagogy, criticism, and digital humanities—to explore their contributions in defense of the humanities. Taken together, these essays explore the study of communication as (1) a resource for inquiring and exchanging with concepts, practices, and embodiments of difference, the other, and the posthuman; (2) a means of examining the ontological, epistemological, technological, existential, performative, and ethical implications of our communicative being, our being constituted by symbolic action and mediated exchange in ever-present yet always variant material and affective environments, spaces, and places; (3) a discipline emerging from rhetoric, one of the original liberal arts, yet developing in transdisciplinary ways, transforming the binary of humanities and sciences; (4) a tool for decolonizing knowledge(s); (5) a tool for exploring, critiquing, engaging, and creating with the new media of our digital lives together; (6) a long-standing yet ever inventive method and mode for public humanities; and (7) a praxis of resistance. These essays bring to light what studying communication offers the humanities: a plural, public, reflexive, and ever inventive enterprise for examining being human together on this planet.     

The crisis of higher education and the rhetorical vicissitudes of the common good

ABSTRACT

Over the course of this essay, I advance four interrelated claims. One, today's crisis in the humanities is real. Two, today's crisis in the humanities is also manufactured. Three, a jettisoned archaeogenealogy of civil society and its associated political principle of the common good will show that the crisis in the humanities that is both real and manufactured is indicative of a dramatic transformation of the common good. Four, turning the crisis around therefore will require humanists to rigorously interrogate their own investment in the common good as a single substantive idea or transcendental ideal and, on that radically unsettled ground, begin to articulate alternatives to the late neoliberal common sense, using the classroom as a training ground for others to do the same.     

Disrupting the humanities and social science binary: framing communication studies as a transformative discipline

ABSTRACT

Debates whether communication studies should be housed with the humanities or social sciences have raged on for decades. In response to attacks on the humanities, we argue that the discipline has much to gain from seeing how the humanities contributes to the social sciences and the potential benefits of integrating humanistic and social scientific approaches. Specifically, we present two case studies that illuminate ways humanities-informed thinking has contributed to and benefited social science theory, method, and data. First, we review Jeffrey A. Bennett's Banning Queer Blood to illustrate the importance of reflexivity and practice when analyzing interview data. Then, we highlight how the philosophy of Mikhail Bakhtin influenced Leslie A. Baxter's most recent articulation of relational dialectics theory and development of contrapuntal analysis. Finally, we discuss obstacles and opportunities for engaging in transformative research.     

Replacing the mediator orientation grids,again: Proposing a ‘new new grid system’

The mediation profession's standard for assessment is revised, updated and—maybe—finalized. Leonard L. Riskin, of Columbia, Mo., who debuted his “Mediator Orientation Grid” in these pages a decade ago, revisits his process tool, which has now grown into a “New New Grid System.”.     

Hospitability: The Communicative Architecture of Humanitarian Securitization at Europe's Borders

This paper explores the communicative architecture of reception at the peak of Europe's 2015–2016 “migration crisis.” Drawing on fieldwork at one of Europe's outer borders—the Greek island of Chios—the paper examines the border as a site where refugee and migrant reception takes place and where the parameters of Europe's ethico-political response to the “crisis” are set. The paper demonstrates that the continent's double requirement of security and care produces a new and highly ambivalent moral order, hospitability. Constituted through techno-symbolic networks of mediation, hospitability reaffirms dominant theorizations of the border as an order of power and exclusion but goes beyond these in highlighting micro-connections of solidarity that simultaneously coexist with and attempt to challenge this order.     

Points de sensorium,the stank,and the communication of bullshit

Rhetorical scholarship has recently made significant contributions to an emerging “meta-field” that we might loosely call “shit studies.” In this essay, we review scholarship pertaining to the study of “shit” in communication. Specifically, we review current trends in the theoretical orientation of shit studies by advancing the ideas of points de sensorium and/as the stank of rhetoric. Drawing on theories of the point de capiton (quilting point), we are able to note some commonalities in the study of shit in communication scholarship. The stank and the points de sensorium speak to a theorization of affect and bullshit-texts.     

The Media and Male Identities: Audience Research in Media,Religion, and Masculinities

Findings from in‐depth interviews with 19 Evangelical Protestant men regarding their ideas about masculinity, media, and religion are reported. The authors propose a critical test of a neoconservative view which laments a modern “crisis of masculinity” and which posits media as a villain in this crisis and religion, particularly conservative religion, as the savior. The study pursues a line of inquiry suggested by D. Gauntlett (2002) and S. M. Hoover (2006) with the hope of developing clearer ideas of how men make gendered narratives of self‐understanding and presentation out of their media lives. These interviews contradicted the neoconservative claims, finding that media plays constructive roles in these men's senses of self in both masculine and religious terms.     

Between campus and planet: toward a posthumanist paideia

ABSTRACT

Over the last decade, humanities advocates have called for public support of liberal arts education, noting the vital contributions of the humanities to local, national, and global conversations. At the same time, systemic public problems have energized serial community discussions on campuses across and beyond the U.S.A. In the contexts of corporatized higher education and posthumanism, this essay suggests specific contributions rhetorical education can make in the service of human welfare and democratic life. We contribute a defense of rhetorical education by tracing its humanist foundations to revivify its promises for the global multiversity poised between campus and planet. We advance a posthumanist paideia, a rhetorical education that builds on the best of the humanist rhetorical tradition while including a plurality of historically distant and contemporary theories of rhetoric oriented toward feminist, antiracist, and posthumanist perspectives on citizenship, civic engagement, and “the public.” We advance a posthumanist paideia that takes campus public problems seriously and equips students with the collaborative habits and ethical communication practices necessary to respond to the calls of posthumanist democratic life. Our posthumanist paideia fosters the collaborative habits and practices of posthumanist public scholarship.     

Communautés d’enquête et création de connaissances dans l’organisation: le modèle de processus en gestion

Organization sciences are interested in the “community “ concept, particularly to overcome the opposition between “methodological individualism “ focused upon the subject and “methodological holism” focused upon the organization. “Communities of practice”, based upon practices common to a group of actors, provide a useful frame to study professional craft communities. They are not so useful to study the cooperation between actors who are involved in a “conjoint activity” — an activity which is not characterized by similar practices, but by their heterogeneous complementarity -, for which we propose to recur to the concept of “community of inquiry “ owed to the pragmatist philosophers Peirce and Dewey. First we examine the “community of inquiry” concept and its specificities in studying collective activity: heterogeneity and complementarity of activities and knowledge, dialogical sense making in the interactions between actors, need for mutual intelligibility in a context which makes it difficult, key role of semiotic and instrumental mediations of activity, cooperativeness/reflexivity coupling in the inquiry frame. Then we describe how communities of inquiry work as a group committed to create knowledge to achieve conjoint actions with shared practical purposes. The inquiry articulates exploratory abduction-deduction-induction cycles, with a structure of roles, exploration instruments which stress abductive reasoning and collective agreement upon some process to validate results. Finally we shall mention communities of project and process as examples of communities of inquiry in firms. In one case study, we shall see that situations of change may require the simultaneous construction of communities of practice and communities of inquiry so that actors can take the control of their own collective activity.     

The Aggregate Effects of Decentralized Knowledge Production: Financial Bloggers and Information Asymmetries in the Stock Market

New media have markedly enhanced individuals' capacity to produce and disseminate original knowledge; however, the literature has not extensively examined the broad effects of such decentralized production processes. This study thus focuses on a unique context—the stock market—in which it is possible to test the aggregate impact of blog‐based information production. Using data on 150 top financial bloggers and stock returns from the S&P 500, this study supports the hypothesis that financial blogging activity diminishes harmful information asymmetries between key market investors. This study thus adds to the “media effects” literature, highlights the societal relevance of bloggers, and shows how economic concepts and financial market settings can be employed for powerfully testing communication theories.     

Back to Basics: Legos and Me

Editor's Note: Master Mediator columnist Bob Creo has taken a break in the past two issues of Alternatives from his focus on neuroscience, psychological factors and cognitive biases that affect dispute resolution to revisit his past. He has returned to his earliest columns on mediation room techniques and practice issues—some nearly a decade old—and is reprising and updating them for a “Back to Basics” series. The articles are new to these pages, originally having appeared exclusively on the website of Alternatives' publisher, the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution. Last month's column faced “ghostbusting” in mediation—that is, dealing with the specters of “persons with influence over the outcome, but who are not physically present at the mediation session.” The November column covered the concept of satisfactory compromise. This month's column looks at the building blocks of a mediation resolution, literally. Still to come is a back‐to‐basics examination of constructing settlements.     

A Denotative and Connotative Study in Communication

The purposes of this study were to investigate: (1) the definitions of communication preferred among 150 randomly selected members of the National Society for the Study of Communication; (2) the respondents' “ideal” referent or symbol when naming the dynamics of the interpersonal sending-receiving process. A questionnaire was sent to the above individuals, asking them to; (1) rank-order twelve definitions of communication (from most to least preferred)—this was the denotative phase of the study; (2) rate the concepts “Communication,”“Speech,” and “Persuasion” on three linear-graphic scales (of the Osgood, Suci, Tannenbaum type). The first scale measured the respondents' evaluative feelings of these three concepts (“Good to Bad” continuum). The second scale measured their feelings on the potency of the three concepts (“Strong to Weak” continuum). The third scale measured their orientation of the three concepts as to the complexity or simplicity of the terms when used to describe the process (“Complex to Simple” continuum)—this was the connotative phase of the study. Results were based on a 41% return (62 of 150); no follow-ups were made to contact the non-respondents. (1) Over-all rankings for the denotative phase of the study indicated that respondents preferred the communication definitions of: J. Ruesch and G. Bateson, first; W. Weaver, second; L. Thayer, third; S. Stevens, fourth; C. Hovland, fifth; C. Cherry, sixth; P. Tompkins, seventh; W. C. Redding, eighth; W. Schramm, ninth; T. Newcomb, tenth; E. Sapir, eleventh; and G. Miller, twelfth. Analysis of variance indicated the rankings to be significant at the .001 level. (2) The profile of mean scores in the connotative phase of the study indicated that respondents evaluated the concept “Communication” to be much better than the concepts “Speech” or “Persuasion.” The mean scores of the oriented activity scales indicated that “Communication” was perceived by the subjects to be “extremely complex,” whereas “Speech” and “Persuasion” were both viewed as being only “moderately complex.” Results from both the denotative and connotative phases of this study strongly suggested that there was much disparity among the respondents' rankings of communication definitions and ratings of concepts.     

When Good News Is Bad News: Explicating the Moderated Mediation Dynamic Behind the Reversed Mobilization Effect

This study investigates the mobilizing potential of positive news framing on opponents of a referendum proposal. On the basis of an experiment (N = 470), using bootstrapping as a method to assess conditional indirect effects, mediation analysis showed that positive news framing—endorsing a referendum proposal regarding European Union (EU) integration—was perceived as negative by opponents and mobilized those with higher levels of skepticism toward the EU to turn out and vote because of increased risk perception. This “reversed mobilization” effect was contingent upon existing levels of self‐efficacy, yielding evidence for a “double conditional indirect effect” of positive news framing on turnout intention via risk perception which was strongest among those showing greater levels of EU skepticism as well as stronger self‐efficacy beliefs.     

Client Science: Bad News and the Fully Informed ADR Client

Professor Aaron comments that this piece, excerpted from: “Bad News and the Fully Informed Client,” the first chapter of her book, Client Science, addresses the lawyer's challenge when counseling clients where “bad” news—negative, pessimistic or unwelcome developments or analysis—must be conveyed, whether or not within an ADR process. “As a mediator of civil cases, I suspect that mediation involves a higher than average percentage of cases involving ill‐counseled clients or ‘difficult clients’ who may fairly be characterized as ‘counseling‐resistant’ despite the best efforts of skilled lawyers. When the lawyer explains ‘bad news’ about case developments or likely outcomes, he risks the client's suspicion or accusation of less than zealous advocacy. While a mediator can assist with client communication when legal circumstances are grim, counsel are obligated to ensure their clients are well informed of realistic expectations when exercising autonomy and self determination.”     

Is She “Man Enough”? Women Candidates,Executive Political Offices,and News Coverage

This study analyzes news coverage of 4 female political candidates—Elizabeth Dole, Claire McCaskill, Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin—and their male competitors, as each competed in 2 elections between 1999 and 2008. Analysis focused on novelty labeling, and “feminine” and “masculine” political issues and character traits to determine whether the coverage of women and men differed in general, and across the offices of Senator, Governor, Vice President, or President. Overall, women received more news coverage, and the gendered gap in coverage was especially large for novelty, issue, and trait coverage when women sought the “executive” offices of Governor and in the White House. These findings provide insight into the evolving gender dynamics of women running within the masculinized domain of politics.     

New Research Sheds Light on How Litigants Evaluate the Characteristics of Legal Procedures

Millions of civil litigants seek relief through state courts each year. Unfortunately, the economic downturn sharply increased how long they must wait for trial and decreased the resources needed to offer mediation, arbitration, and other alternatives. Donna Shestowsky, “The Psychology of Procedural Preference: How Litigants Evaluate Legal Procedures Ex Ante,” 99 Iowa L. Rev. 637, 640 (2014) (providing examples of courts and alternative dispute resolution programs that have been negatively affected due to the economic downturn)(referred to below as “Psychology of Procedural Preference”).     

Behind the “bathtub”-curve A new model and its consequences

The hitherto commonly accepted background model for the “bathtub” curve is rejected due to lack of experimental evidence. A new model — the S-curve model — based on bimodal or trimodal failure distribution functions and the concepts of “strong”, “freak” and “infant mortality” components is presented and its fitting with practical experience is demonstrated. The impact of the new model with regard to burn-in of components and systems and the use of reliability indicators to screen for built-in “flaws” in components are described.     

Obstinate thought,or how the humanities defend themselves

ABSTRACT

With the humanities under attack, this essay suggests the virtue of obstinacy and fortitude in the face of the continual erasure of spaces for study. Drawing from Henry David Thoreau as an exemplar of obstinate thought, I suggest a hermeneutically inflected communicative ethic that responds to the need for the humanities to defend themselves by turning to the material objects of study: books. Obstinacy is defined here not as stubbornness or inflexibility, but as persistence in the face of adverse circumstances through the practices of reading and writing.     

Framing the Egyptian Uprising in Arabic Language Newspapers and Social Media

This study examines the framing of Egypt's January 2011 uprising in the country's state‐run, independent and social media using a unique dataset of Arabic language content from newspapers and key social media posts collected during the peak of protests. Semiofficial (governmental) newspapers framed the event as “a conspiracy on the Egyptian state,” warning of economic consequence and attributing blame and responsibility for the chaos on others. Social media posts used a human interest frame defining protests as “a revolution for freedom and social justice” and independent newspapers used a combination of these frames. Findings point toward the potential roles that news media will play in shaping public opinion and demonstrate why social media have wide appeal in times of political crisis.