Rhetoric versus practice: 'limits' in early modernism

This paper looks at the relationship between rhetoric and practice in the early days of Modernism in Europe by two proponents, Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos. It interprets their 'discrepancies' not so much as limits but different forms of rhetoric.

Rhetorical theory of public relations: opening the door to semiotic and pragmatism approaches

The 2001 Handbook of Public Relations edited by Robert Heath contains a prominent article advocating the use of rhetorical theory or ‘rhetorical enactment rational’ as a fruitful way of advancing theoretical understandings of public relations. In 2004 Heath and Dan Millar edited: Responding to Crisis: A Rhetorical Approach to Crisis Communication. These are the latest excursions into a perspective on public relations reflecting the extensive study of rhetoric in North America. Other examples are Public Relations Inquiry as Rhetorical Criticism (Elwood, 1995); Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations (Toth and Heath, 1992); and a chapter Public Relations? No, Relations with Publics: A Rhetorical-Organisational Approach to Contemporary Corporate Communication (Cheney and Dionisopoulos, in Botan and Hazleton (Eds.) 1989).

The conventional notion of rhetoric is argumentation and persuasion stemming from the ancient Greek sophists, such as Aristotle, and from the Romans, particularly Cicero and Quintillion. Rhetoric became a fundamental plank of the trivium of ancient and medieval education: grammar, logic and rhetoric. Then in the 20th century Kenneth Burke, Stephen Toulmin and Chaim Perelman with Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca extended Aristotle’s suggestion that: “Rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic” Aristotle (trans. 1991). To use the rhetorical approach to argue that rational discourse cannot describe the world on its own. Instead living, enculturated human beings have to perceive ‘their’ truths. They take a perceptual ‘position’ on reason.

Public relations, is an industry for influencing perceptual ‘positions’. But the study of perception and attempts to influence perception cannot be claimed by rhetorical scholars alone. Semioticians and linguists who take the perspective of linguistic pragmatics also claim this field. This paper takes the example of ‘public relations’ as a focus for the confluence of rhetorical, semiotic and pragmatism approaches to the ‘problematic’ of understanding and truth.

Working in teams: the influence of rhetoric-from sensemaking to sadness

The prevailing wisdom tells us that teams axiomatically bring increases and improvements in effectiveness, productivity and communication. There has been too little critical address of whether these benefits actually accrue, nor what the experience of team members actually is. This paper shares findings from a Heideggerian phenomenological study, where members of teams in organizations were interviewed and asked about their experiences of working in teams. Astonishingly, not only did team members not report these anticipated improvements, their stories tended to highlight the negative influence that the rhetoric surrounding teams might have on individuals. This paper shares the responses of team members to that rhetoric, revealing themes of "Teams, Rhetoric and Sensemaking", a challenge to the notion of "Teams as One Big Happy Family?", and "Teams as Crucibles of Resignation and Sadness". These findings indicate the need for future research into understanding the experience of individuals within various team and organizational structures.

Preparing students for a world which is global in its outlook and influences: the rhetoric, reality and response

The imperative for schools and teachers to understand and teach with a global perspective has been reiterated in Victoria recently with the release of the Victorian Curriculum Reform Consultation Paper (VCAA, 2004). This paper states that, "the purposes of schooling are to prepare students for a world which is global in its outlook and influences." (p.4).

The introductory paragraphs of selected states' and territories' Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) curriculum statements include and reiterate 'global' in the rationale for teaching and learning. Teaching in SOSE is charged with responsibility for incorporating 'global' into classroom practice. What is the role and place of SOSE in this teaching and how can SOSE teachers be better equipped to teach in a time of internationalisation and globalisation? Are teachers prepared to meet this challenge?

This paper will position the importance of teachers' lived experiences, their capacity to reflect upon these experiences, to their preparedness and competency in teaching 'global education' both within a SOSE classroom and beyond. How can personal critical reflection sharpen the focus for teaching in and to this global world? What are the place of narrative and the lived experiences of teachers in sharpening this focus? The data for this paper is drawn from a self study of the author who is studying a Masters by Research and teaches Social Education and Education Studies at Deakin University.

The paper argues that pedagogy around teaching global education in the classroom cannot be isolated from the teacher's identities, background experiences, which influence and shape their approaches to teaching in a global education curriculum. The methodology in teaching global education needs to be further aligned to teacher narratives and the lived experiences of teachers in order to link local, national and global domains.

The paper will describe how teaching for a 'world which is global in outlook and influences' can be researched by examining a selection of personal stories and lived experiences. The paper will conclude with a draft framework of global education that acknowledges reflection on lived experiences and narratives.

Dirk de Bruyn : Ancient damage

The Ancient damage program screened at Lux Salon, London, Kino Kommunales, Frankfurt and Off-Cinema, Ghent in 2004, and included Running,  Boerdery, Rote movie and Analog stress, 

Sea-level changes and palaeo-ranges: reconstruction of ancient shorelines and river drainages and the phylogeography of the Australian land crayfish Engaeus sericatus Clark (Decapoda: Parastacidae )

Historical sea levels have been influential in shaping the phylogeography of freshwater-limited taxa via palaeodrainage and palaeoshoreline connections. In this study, we demonstrate an approach to phylogeographic analysis incorporating historical sea-level information in a nested clade phylogeographic analysis (NCPA) framework, using burrowing freshwater crayfish as the model organism. Our study area focuses on the Bass Strait region of southeastern Australia, which is marine region encompassing a shallow seabed that has emerged as a land bridge during glacial cycles connecting mainland Australia and Tasmania. Bathymetric data were analysed using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to delineate a palaeodrainage model when the palaeocoastline was 150 m below present-day sea level. Such sea levels occurred at least twice in the past 500 000 years, perhaps more often or of larger magnitude within the last 10 million years, linking Victoria and Tasmania. Inter-locality distance measures confined to the palaeodrainage network were incorporated into an NCPA of crayfish (Engaeus sericatus Clark 1936) mitochondrial 16S rDNA haplotypes. The results were then compared to NCPAs using present-day river drainages and traditional great-circle distance measures. NCPA inferences were cross-examined using frequentist and Bayesian procedures in the context of geomorphological and historical sea-level data. We found distribution of present-day genetic variation in E. sericatus to be partly explained not only by connectivity through palaeodrainages but also via present-day drainages or overland (great circle) routes. We recommend that future studies consider all three of these distance measures, especially for studies of coastally distributed species.

Public relations and the rhetoric of civil society

The intention of this paper is to build on a book by Anne Surma (2005). It takes some of Surma’s ideas probably beyond what was originally intended in order to suggest their logical conclusions for the practice of public relations. Surma argues that writing and reading of every type enables or otherwise facilitates or restricts imagination. Further, this shaping or inflection of the imagination leads to the shaping or the inflection of the type of ‘ethic’ which we are able to hold in our heads about the world which surrounds us. If this is the case then public relations writing, which has the very raison d’etre of influencing thought, must lend itself to important analysis in this regard. This paper presumes the reader has a basic understanding of Charles Saunders Peirce’s notion of semiotics.