Contemporary rhetorical citizenship

Contemporary Rhetorical Citizenship offers the concept of rhetorical citizenship as a meeting ground for the burgeoning community of scholars interested in rhetoric's place in society. It brings together contributions from several disciplinary traditions in communication studies and neighbouring fields. The concept of rhetorical citizenship highlights the discursive, processual, and participatory aspects of civic life. It builds on the ancient idea that rhetoric is what makes civilized society possible; citizenship is in large part discursively based. Legal rights, privileges and material conditions are not the only constituents of citizenship; discourse between citizens is arguably the basis of what it means to be a citizen.Christian Kock is Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Copenhagen. With Lisa he edited Rhetorical Citizenship and Public Deliberation (Penn State University Press, 2012). Lisa Villadsen is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Copenhagen."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. This is a major collection of works within the space of rhetoric and communication inquiry." - G. Thomas Goodnight, Professor at the Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism, University of Southern California, Los Angeles."It provides a great selection of actual research on rhetoric and communication from very different traditions, departments, methodologies and angles. Rhetorical Citizenship as a conceptual frame brings thematic cohesion and possibilities for comparison and synergy. The dual focus on the receptive and the participatory aspects of civic interaction is a strong point." - Jaap de Jong, Professor of Journalism, New Media and Modern Rhetoric, Leiden University Centre for Linguistics.