Toward an Intersubjective Rhetoric of Empathy in Intercultural Communication: A Rereading of Morris Young'sMinor Re/Visions

Peiling Zhao

doi:10.1080/07350198.2012.630959

Rhetoric Review Jan 2012

Toward an Intersubjective Rhetoric of Empathy in Intercultural Communication: A Rereading of Morris Young'sMinor Re/Visions

Peiling Zhao Millikin University

Abstract

Abstract The subjective model of empathy, as used in Susan Miller's reading of Morris Young's Minor Re/Visions, is rooted in the prevailing misconceptions of emotion as personal and intrinsic to an isolated and fixed Western subjectivity. It poses tremendous challenges to intercultural empathy: It allows readers to project their own emotions and framework of reference to others' emotions and creates an asymmetrical, passive subject-to-object reader–writer relationship. Conceiving emotions as an index to cultural and social relationships, the intersubjective rhetoric of empathy, contrarily, positions readers as fluid intersubjects, and consequently creates an active subject-to-subject relationship that potentially subverts the power imbalance in rhetorical borderlands. Notes 1I thank my RR reviewers LuMing Mao and Lucy Xing Lu for their patient review, incisive comments, and insightful suggestions, which significantly helped improve the clarity and focus of my argument.

Journal: Rhetoric Review
Published: 2012-01-01
DOI: 10.1080/07350198.2012.630959
CompPile: Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access: Closed
Topics: rhetorical criticism
Export: BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (24) · 1 in this index

Benjamin Jessica (2005)

10.1215/10407391-2005-006

Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies ↗
Boler Megan (1999)

Feeling Power: Emotions and Education
Clarke Simon (2009)

Emotions, Politics, and Society
10.1111/1467-8721.01252

↗
Fortenbaugh W.W. (2002)

Aristotle on Emotion

Show all 24 →

Hall David L. (1998)

Thinking through Confucius
Konstan David (2006)

The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks: Studies in Aristotle and Classical Literature

↗
Li Xiaoming (2008)

Contrastive Rhetoric: Reaching to Intercultural Rhetoric
Li Xiaoming (1996)

Cross-Cultural Context
Lutz Catherine (2003)

What Is an Emotion: Classic and Contemporary Readings
Mao LuMing (2005)

Rhetoric Review
Mao LuMing (2006)

Reading Chinese Fortune Cookie: The Making of Chinese American Rhetoric
Mao LuMing (2008)

Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric
Micchiche Laura (2007)

Doing Emotion: Rhetoric, Writing, Teaching
Miller (2005)

Review Essay: The Evidence of Our Sensibilities

College Composition and Communication
Moon Gretchen Flesher (2003)

A Way to Move: Rhetorics of Emotion and Composition Studies
Rogers Carl R. (1961)

On Becoming a Person
10.2307/1399564

↗
Teich Nathaniel (1994)

Presence of Mind: Writing and the Domain beyond the Cognitive
Terada Rei (2001)

Feeling in Theory: Emotion after the “Death of the Subject.”

↗
10.1080/09552369608575424

↗
Worsham Lynn (1998)

JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory
Young Morris (2004)

Minor Re/Visions: Asian American Literacy Narratives as a Rhetoric of Citizenship
Zlatev Jordan (2008)

The Shared Mind: Perspectives on Intersubjectivity

↗

CrossRef global citation count: 12 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Toward an Intersubjective Rhetoric of Empathy in Intercultural Communication: A Rereading of Morris Young'sMinor Re/Visions

Abstract

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

References (24) · 1 in this index

Related Articles