Contemporary Rhetorical Citizenship

Building on the ancient idea that communication enables civilization, this book introduces the concept of rhetorical citizenship as a way to explore rhetoric’s place in society. Christian Kock and Lisa Villadsen bring together contributions from various fields to highlight the discursive aspects of civic life.

“The volume emphasizes the language-oriented rhetorical notion of citizenship and shifts us away from formal, legal-oriented, state-centric definitions. It makes a strong case for why attention to rhetoric is useful in understanding and addressing contemporary public controversies.”—G. Thomas Goodnight, University of Southern California