Many academic debaters have adopted a rhetoric of emancipation, which seeks to identify oppressive features in the material conditions of contemporary society. Debaters now often advocate a wholesale rejection of the current system. This emancipatory rhetoric illustrates some components of Jurgen Habermas' critical apparatus. In turn, that…

Douglas Ehninger's conceptualization of rhetorical theories as "systems" has been criticized for its vagueness in terminology, its potentially skewed perspective, and its inability to apply a stasis to a kinetic phenomenon--namely, rhetoric. The seven recommendations offered in this paper attempt to expand upon the approach and correct…

The concluding chapter of Tom Quirk's new book, "Coming to Grips with Huckleberry Finn," raises the question: "Is 'Huckleberry Finn' politically correct?" Quirk's book identifies acutely some of the fundamental issues regarding how racial attitudes and ideological agendas shape the way this great novel is read and taught.…

In recent years, movement theorists have examined how rhetorical movements acquire legitimacy from established orders. The focus of past research has been the rhetorical dilemma of noninstitutional movements seeking recognition. David Zarefsky conceptualized establishment social movements as being rhetorically indistinguishable from…

A reply to "Beyond Rhetorical Relativism," a 1982 article written by E. Croasmun and R. A. Cherwitz, this paper suggests that that article suffers from a poor choice and unclear usage of language, a weak line of argument, and a faulty conceptualization of the issues. The first section of the paper reviews the arguments presented by…

Article evaluated the written record, historical and literary, that constituted the major depository of the national heritage. Editing projects that have attempted to arrange the written record of America into a scholarly format were criticized. (Author/RK)

The human condition can be better understood by reading both fiction and nonfiction. (JH)

Article did not attempt a critical evaluation of contemporary literary trends, but rather tried to report on the kind of books that are engaging the attention of readers in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. (Editor/RK)

The author values peer feedback in her freshman composition class, largely because it helps students to develop confidence and ability in analyzing various texts, including, of course, their own. Like most instructors who use peer review, the author recognizes that although she is capable of, and quite comfortable with, offering students detailed…

Discusses a particular literary technique sometimes used in French in which a subject pronoun is omitted after direct speech for variation and emphasis. (CK)

A literary analysis of Phillis Wheatley, arguing that she was simply an 18th century poet who supported, praised, and imitated those who enslaved her and her fellow black people. (EH)

Gary and Tall (2001) recently suggested that mathematics can be split up into "three worlds": the embodied, the proceptual and the axiomatic. They claim that objects from each of these worlds are formed, and reasoned about, in significantly different ways. During the course of this article the author considers the three world's theory…

Gives norms and advice on the analysis of the modern Spanish novel. (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)

The film "Raiders of the Lost Ark," a timeless story about the heroic quest for a sacred object and the conflict between good and evil, employs cross-cultural, durable symbols to establish quickly a locus of motives with a large, differentiated movie audience. The archetypes of the quest and of shadow are at the core of this film; they…