Rhetoric Society Quarterly Oct 2011

The Future of Forgetting: Rhetoric, Memory, Affect

Jeff Pruchnic Wayne State University ; Kim Lacey Saginaw Valley State University

Abstract

This article argues for a rethinking of the rhetorical canon of memory as a productive tool for understanding and effectively responding to recent changes in culture, economics, and politics. After reviewing historical conceptions of rhetorical memory both before and after its “canonization,” we identify two processes at the heart of the contemporary relationships between persuasion and memory: an “externalization” of memory and commonplace rhetorical structures through information networks and technologies, and an “internalization” of memory and dispositions that takes place in human affective systems. We conclude by arguing for the value of such an expanded notion of rhetorical memory for addressing two of the more pervasive and significant registers of contemporary persuasion: advertising and populist politics.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2011-10-01
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2011.597818
Open Access
Closed
Topics
affect and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (14)

  1. Weech (2025)
    “That’s What You’re Supposed to Do on Twitter”: Emotion, Affect, and Positivity…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Gogan et al. (2022)
    Emotion, Rhetoric, and Entrepreneurial Experience: A Survey of Start-Up Communi…
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  3. Colby (2022)
    Reinventing argument: How games persuade through performative enthymemes
    Computers and Composition
  4. Johnson et al. (2020)
    Precarious Data: Affect, Infrastructure, and Public Education
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  5. Rowland (2019)
    The Populist and Nationalist Roots of Trump’s Rhetoric
    Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Show all 14 →
  1. Wilde (2019)
    (Re)telling the Times: The Tangled Memories of Confederate Spies Rose O’Neal Gr…
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Obermark (2019)
    “Assurance that the world holds far more good than bad”:The Pedagogy of Memory …
    Rhetoric Review
  3. Lagman (2018)
    Literacy Remains: Loss and Affects in Transnational Literacies
    College English
  4. Long (2017)
    Excavating the Memory Palace: An Account of the Disappearance of Mnemonic Image…
    Rhetoric Review
  5. Wilson et al. (2017)
    The Technical Communicator as (Post-Postmodern) Discourse Worker
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  6. Long (2016)
    Visualizing Words and Knowledge: Arts of Memory for the Digital Age
    Computers and Composition
  7. Kalin et al. (2016)
    Wearing the City: Memory P(a)laces, Smartphones, and the Rhetorical Invention o…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  8. Newcomb (2015)
    From Tourist to Planner: Preparing for Affect in Henri Dunant’s<i>A Memory of S…
    Rhetoric Review
  9. LeMesurier (2014)
    Somatic Metaphors: Embodied Recognition of Rhetorical Opportunities
    Rhetoric Review

Cites in this index (2)

  1. Marback (2004)
    A Tale of Two Plaques: Rhetoric in Cape Town
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Blair et al. (2000)
    Reproducing civil rights tactics: The rhetorical performances of the civil righ…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
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