Difference-Driven Inquiry: A Working Theory of Local Public Deliberation

Linda Flower Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

Local publics open a distinctively generative space for deliberation, one that can actually use difference, based on race, status, or discourse, as a resource—but only if such marginalized perspectives can gain standing and be heard. For difference to gain a voice may depend on a discourse that can delay consensus, acknowledge conflict, and provoke a difference-driven inquiry. Drawing on a study of a deliberative process triggered by issues of diversity within a university, this essay sketches a working theory of community engagement supported by the rhetorical scaffold of a Community Think Tank. The essay explores the theoretical potential of conflict in local publics while asking how rhetorical activists and educators might support a difference-driven deliberation in practice.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2016-08-07
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2016.1194451
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (8)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Written Communication
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. College Composition and Communication
  5. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Show all 8 →
  1. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. Pedagogy
  3. Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric

References (53) · 4 in this index

  1. The Public Work of Rhetoric: Citizen-Scholars and Public Engagement
  2. Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals
  3. 10.1080/0033563042000227436
  4. 10.1353/par.2003.0006
  5. Rhetoric Reclaimed: Aristotle and the Liberal Arts Tradition
Show all 53 →
  1. Professional Communication: The Social Perspective
  2. Carnegie Mellon Community Think Tank
  3. Coogan, David. “Sophists for Social Change.” Ackerman and Coogan 157–74. Print.
  4. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  5. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  6. Cushman, Ellen, and Erik Green. “Knowledge Work with the Cherokee Nation: The Pedagogy of Engaging Publics in…
  7. 10.1146/annurev.polisci.7.121003.091630
  8. The Public and Its Problems: An Essay in Political Inquiry
  9. 10.1215/9780822380283
  10. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199282838.001.0001
  11. 10.1093/019924264X.001.0001
  12. 10.1002/9780470690734
  13. Flower, Linda.Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 200…
  14. The Construction of Negotiated Meaning: A Social Cognitive Theory of Writing
  15. Flower, Linda. “Going Public—In a Disabling Discourse.” Ackerman and Coogan 137–57. Print.
  16. Writing Selves/Writing Societies
  17. Social Text
  18. The Deliberative Democracy Handbook
  19. College English
  20. Argument in Controversy: Proceedings of the seventh AFA/SCA conference on argumentation
  21. Grabill, Jeffrey. “On Being Useful: Rhetoric and the Work of Engagement.” Ackerman and Coogan 193–210. Print.
  22. Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy
  23. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeo…
  24. Vernacular Voices: The Rhetoric of Publics and Public Spheres
  25. Leadership Without Easy Answers
  26. Jarratt, Susan C. “Prospects for the Public Work of Rhetoric: A Coda on Codes.” Ackerman and Coogan 283–96. Print.
  27. Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Refigured
  28. Journal of Public Deliberation
  29. Ecospeak: Rhetoric and Environmental Politics in America
  30. Long, Elenore. “Rhetorical Technē, Local Knowledge, and Challenges in Contemporary Activism.”Rhetorics, Liter…
  31. Texts of Consequence: Composing Social Activism for the Classroom and Community
  32. Beyond Adversary Democracy
  33. Tactics of Hope: The Public Turn in English Composition. Portsmouth: Boyton/Cook, Heinemann
  34. CounterPunch
  35. 10.1080/00335639409384072
  36. Reflections
  37. 10.1080/10570319909374655
  38. Paul Ricoeur: Tradition and Innovation in Rhetorical Theory
  39. Deliberate Conflict: Argument, Political Theory, and Composition Classes
  40. Rhetoric: Concord and Controversy
  41. 10.1002/9780470690734.ch4
  42. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  43. Challenges of Ordinary Democracy: A Case Study in Deliberation and Dissent
  44. 10.2307/358493
  45. 10.2307/377955
  46. Publics and Counterpublics
  47. College English
  48. Deliberative Democracy: Essays in Reason and Politics