Abstract
The idea of rhetoric being culture-bound and culture-specific is one that seems to have become common sense for researchers in the field, and one which is seldom explored and often obviated. The opposite, the idea of culture emerging from rhetoric, seems counterintuitive, but in the light of modern historical events, from the rallies held by the Nazi party in Hitler’s Germany to the emergence of a modern Chinese consciousness under Sun Yat Sen and Mao Tse Tung, it becomes apparent that the idea not only needs to be explored, but that addressing it is of vital importance for the survival and development of the field. Meyer and Girke’s edited volume brings the field of rhetoric up to date by coupling the traditional views on rhetoric and their classical views with a wider view on the role of rhetoric in examining and understanding discourse and culture. The tome consists of three parts: Intersubjectivity, Emergence and Agency. These seem to somewhat echo the evolution of the field of rhetoric, moving from a dialogical view of the emergence of culture, to one which sees rhetoric as taking an active role in cultural development.
Chapters 1–6 address ‘Intersubjectivity’. In Chapter 1, Shotter focuses on the dialogical as well as the holistic nature of rhetoric, as in the fully embodied, non-causative responses an individual gives to a particular situation. Du Bois’s Chapter 2 focuses on the ‘dialogic moment’ that defines subjectivity and intersubjectivity and the inherenttensions that arise from our dual nature.
In Chapter 3, Maranda links with Du Bois by proposing the idea of ‘resonance’, which draws from, among other sources, Propp’s (1968/1927) structure of the Russian folktale to extend resonance to culture in general. Maranda’s main proposition is that, as social actors draw on their own culture for rhetoric devices in their discourse, when done ‘correctly’ these devices ‘resonate’, that is, they become persuasive and grounded in common sense to both the speaker and the audience.
In Chapter 4, Carbaugh and Baranisza-Habashi link the Blackfoot individual and collective identity to an ‘ethno-rhetoric’ that demands non-human elements and non-linguistic communication to be foregrounded, vis-a-vis the Judeo–Christian tradition of Cartesian dualism that favours human verbal communication as the basis of all knowledge. Streck explores in Chapter 5 the concept of aura as a rhetorical refractory surface that reveals the exotic Other as much as it conceals it. This focus on the rhetoric of anthropology is grounded on views of the Other, such as Kultureislehre and French surrealism. In Chapter 6, Strecker brilliantly extrapolates the concept of ‘tenor’ as used in musical theory and in linguistics to the idea of ‘cultural tenor’, which he then proceeds to illustrate by connecting it to an ethnographic study of the Hamar people in Ethiopia.
Chapters 7–11 address ‘Emergence’. In Chapter 7, revisiting Malinowski and Bakhtin, Hauser calls for ‘democratization’ of rhetoric, using ethnographic methods to take it to the (public) spaces where the modern vernacular resides, rather than focusing on specialized written language. Weiner takes up this idea in Chapter 8 by studying the rhetoric of territoriality of the Foi people in Papua New Guinea. In his analysis talk produces space, as well as being produced by it. This is illustrated by him through contrary discourses on land ownership and kinship systems.
In Chapter 9 Sapienza explores the rich rhetorical construction of virtual communities as communities, linking the experience of Russian immigrants’ Otherization in the US to the building of online communities that cater to a fluid idea of individual identity, unhampered by traditional rhetorical tropes. Henn, in Chapter 10, questions attempts at attaining resonance made by Jesuit priests in Goa, while attempting to convert the local population to Christianity. Implied intentionality and historical consequences do play an important role in his analysis of the use of both rhetorical and actual force. Girke and Pankhurst provide a counterexample to this process in Chapter 11, in their ethnographic study of the rhetoric of ritual, resonance and cooperation in Ethiopia.
Chapters 12–14 address ‘Agency’. In Chapter 12 Robling goes back to the roots of classical rhetoric and explains the art of oratory and its relation to the idea that culture emerges rhetorically. Zebroski studies the idea of the contrary forces that create new structure through an exploration of the history of Gay authorship in Chapter 13. In Chapter 14, Oakley returns to the initial theme of intersubjectivity, in this case the focus of attention through persuasive rhetorical devices, and their effect on what he terms ‘shared agency’.
In the final chapter, Tyler ties up the issues dealt with in the previous three sections by both advocating a ‘chiastic’ relationship between the rhetoric–culture dyad, but also, importantly, by advising restraint in our views of agency, and inviting us to see the limits of the orator and to find that diffuse line where their agency ends and cultural agency begins.
This volume is based on the work and findings of the Rhetoric of Culture Project, based on Ivo Strecker’s call for ties to be established between anthropology and rhetoric, and on the 1998 conference of the same name held in Germany and organized by him and Stephen Tyler. The volume’s best asset is being comprehensive enough to deal with traditional views on rhetoric, while at the same time bringing these issues up to date by linking the orator to the crowd that surrounds him. It would have been useful to make the volume more cohesive by focusing on closer examples of the theory – either thematically, or from the point of view of theoretical outlook. It is, however, an excellent exploratory volume for the field, and one that will definitely provide food for thought for both researchers and students in the area.