Abstract

This essay uses data from a field-based study to describe the everyday rhetorical performances through which ethos is established when the orator’s credibility has been compromised by stigma born of chronic mental illness. These strategies, called “recuperative ethos,” include displays of astuteness, references to strong human connections, and appeals to religious topoi. Further, the essay describes innovative rhetorical performances, called “agile epistemologies,” which include logical contradiction, metonymic parallels, enthymemes, and expansive views on human agency. Taken together, these terms use the voices and experiences of mentally ill participants to add important insight into the rhetoric of mental healthcare and the rhetoric of medicine, health, and wellness.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2015-03-15
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2015.1010125
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Communication Design Quarterly

References (52) · 6 in this index

  1. OED Online
  2. 10.1215/03335372-22-1-1
  3. Naturalistic Observation
  4. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourses
  5. 10.1046/j.1440-0979.2003.00275.x
Show all 52 →
  1. Patient Tales: Case Histories and the Uses of Narrative in Psychiarty
  2. 10.2199/jjsca.24.353
    JAC  
  3. America’s Doctors, Medical Science, Medical Care
  4. Rhetoric in Detail: Discourse Analyses in Rhetorical Talk and Text
  5. Towards a Rhetoric of Everyday Life: New Directions in Research on Writing, Text, and Discourse
  6. Written Communication
  7. 10.1080/00335639209383982
  8. Rhetoric of Healthcare
  9. 10.1007/s10912-008-9054-4
  10. The Rhetorical Emergence of Culture
  11. Active Rhetoric: Composing a Rhetoric of Social Movements
  12. Defining Visual Rhetorics
  13. The Mark of Shame: Stigma of Mental Illness and an Agenda for Change
  14. 10.1057/9781137381668
  15. The Ethos of Rhetoric
  16. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  17. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  18. Illness as Narrative
  19. Scientific Characters Rhetoric, Politics, and Trust in Breast Cancer Research
  20. 10.1056/NEJMp1300678
  21. The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing and the Human Condition
  22. Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies
  23. Written Communication
  24. 10.1176/appi.ps.201100459
  25. 10.1215/9780822384151
  26. Differences in Medicine. Unraveling Practices, Techniques and Bodies
  27. 10.1111/1467-954X.46.s.5
  28. 10.1017/CBO9780511621765.005
  29. 10.1177/1049732305285856
  30. 10.1177/1357034X04042932
  31. Community Mental Health Journal Online
  32. 10.1177/0022146512471197
  33. 10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.09121743
  34. Embodied Rhetoric: Disability in Language and Culture
  35. Mad at School: Rhetorics of Mental Disability and Academic Life
  36. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  37. OED Online
  38. Rhetoric of Healthcare: Essays Toward a New Disciplinary Inquiry
  39. Writing and Reading Mental Health Records: Issues and Analysis in Professional Writing an…
  40. Rhetoric Review
  41. Quality of Life Research
  42. 10.1086/203652
    Current Anthropology  
  43. Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine
  44. “Introduction: Scientific Ethos: Authority, Authorship, and Trust in Sciences.” Configurations
  45. 10.1016/0277-9536(93)90287-E
  46. Writing in the Workplace: New Research Perspectives
  47. JAC