Examining living rhetoric in contemporary times : a case for using qualitative rhetorical methods / Erin Daina McClellan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McClellan, Erin Daina, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rhetoric--Research--Methodology--Case studies.

Rhetoric.

Qualitative research--Methodology--Case studies.

Qualitative research.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

London : SAGE Publications Ltd, 2026.

Summary:

In this case study, I will explain a mixed methods approach that first emerged in my dissertation project, examining rhetoric in and about two U.S. urban public squares. Qualitative rhetorical methods enabled me to examine in situ forms of meaning making, or “living rhetoric”, in and about each public square to supplement analysis of related historical documents. This mixed methods approach helped especially to account for power relations and complexities associated with the contemporary moment and diverse participants, because my data reflected both the ideological ideations of meaning making across the texts themselves and connected them to the larger rhetoric(s) embedded in participants’ everyday life experiences as rhetors (creators of rhetoric), audience members (consumers of rhetoric) and/or rhetoricians/critics (examiners of rhetoric).Qualitative rhetorical methods guide scholars interested in analyzing the active relations among texts, contexts and audiences to account for the experiential, dynamic, and often divergent meaning making processes that analysis of (re)presentation in static texts cannot do alone. Such an approach asks researchers to (re)consider how we come to understand some meanings as (in)significant and simultaneously invites new perceptions which can shift our thinking and/or actions over time. Since this complexity is embedded in examination of political, historical and social change processes, treating rhetoric as a “living” part of them requires including both historical analyses of already-produced texts1 and qualitative approaches to documenting meaning-making “in action”.

Notes:

Description based on XML content.

ISBN:

9781036245238

OCLC:

1594889668

Publisher Number:

T301352