IS IT CULTURE OR IS IT RHETORIC?IN SUMMARY..

The Article is presented in two parts:

Part 1: Justification for the use of rhetoric as a means of studying culture.

Part 2: The "rhetorical dimension of attitude" is applied to study the web presence of the Kumeyaay people. The websites are examined for the central ideas, and their corresponding value systems.

OPPOSING VIEWS OF CULTURE

Geert Hofstede- behaviour is a product of attitudes and values (classification of the communicators)

-"the onion model” - essentialism- cultures of nation-states can be generalized

http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

Constance Kampf- culture as "meaning-making"

- the processes occurring between communicators

- beliefs and attitudes, rhetorical ideologies, culture and values as a product of behaviour

ONION MODEL – VALUE CENTERED

BEHAVIOUR CENTERED MODEL

Behaviour

WHAT IS RHETORIC?

What is the meaning of rhetoric?

Rhetoric

Ethos:ethical appeal of

authortone, respect

Pathos:

emotional appeal of author to readers

Logos:logical appeal

(facts and statistics)

The faculty of discovering all available means of persuasion in

any given instance.

Learning to set your mind to understand how you can get your

audience’s attention through persuasion.

Moral Implications : all available means does not

mean all possible means!

Apply reason to

imagination for the better

moving of the will.

“RHETORICAL DIMENSION OF ATTITUDE”

Kampf defines attitude in her abstract as: “comprising both the central ideas present in websites and the ideologies or systems of ideas in which the websites are

situated.”She justifies using attitude as a means to study culture through “identification” – where the communicators establish “shared values”.The discovery of the truths around us is also the discovery of the dynamic cultural “self” by which these truths are defined.

(p55)

KENNETH BURKE (1897-1993) AMERICAN RHETORICAL SCHOLAR

Kampf quotes the writings of Burke when linking identification to culture.

Terministic Screen (language does not just reflect reality – it also selects and deflects reality)

Humankind is a “symbol using animal”, and our reality has been built up for us through nothing but our symbol system. Therefore major religions (or any other symbolic school of thought) inhabit realities that are different from others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Burke

MISIDENTIFICATION AND RHETORICAL DISTANCE

When value sets are not shared, there is misidentification between the communicators.

The degree of misidentification is labeled “rhetorical distance”. Kampf argues that the Kumeyaay websites are an attempt to reduce the rhetorical distance between themselves and mainstream Americans. (model on p.56)

www.kumeyaay.org www.americanindiansource.com

DISCUSSION AND ACTIVITY

To what extent can a researcher evaluate someone else’s culture through rhetoric? Their own?

Group Activity:In small groups, find a website to examine. Apply Kampf’s method of looking at rhetorical attitude to study culture. Report to this blog:

What are the central ideas and ideologies of the website?

What (mis)identifications exist between the author and audience?

What is the degree of rhetorical distance between author and audience?