Rhetoric and Cape Town’s Campaign to Defeat Day Zero

Josephine Walwema Oakland University

Abstract

This article examines a targeted drought awareness campaign by the city of Cape Town in South Africa to prevent a looming water crisis dubbed Day Zero. Using rhetorical criticism and commonplaces, the article analyzes the design and (rhetorical)circulation of artifacts that heightened public awareness of the crisis, helped shape the public mindset, and galvanized collective action to prevent Day Zero. For one city in Africa to avert a water crisis through a rhetorically orchestrated set of technological, scientific, and civic interventions is significant for (among others) technical communicators who need to know not simply that it was done, but how rhetoric helped avert Day Zero.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2021-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0047281620906128
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

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