Position Papers Aplenty!

The Alliance of Rhetoric Societies recently held a conference in which participants got into groups and discussed four questions:

1. How ought we to understand the concept of rhetorical
   agency?

   
   

2. Do we have a “rhetorical tradition”?  Are we better
   advised to think of traditions rather than a single tradition?  If we
   do recognize a tradition or several traditions, how do we identify and
   characterize it (or them)? 

   
   

3. What should be the institutional and social goals for
   academic rhetoric in the twenty-first century?  How can rhetoric best
   contribute to the social, political, and cultural environment that extends
   beyond the University? 

   
   

4. What does it mean to teach rhetoric?  What does it mean
   to teach composition and performance seriously?  What is the relationship
   between rhetoric and composition?  Should they be distinguished?

The best thing about this site is that all the position papers written by the participants (each person addressed one of the four questions) are online!