Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 2001

Theories of Visual Rhetoric: Looking at the Human Genome

Mary Rosner University of Louisville

Abstract

For too long, journal articles and textbooks on scientific and technical discourse have adopted a positivistic approach to visuals. Unfortunately, this approach is problematic. It ignores that visuals are constructions that are products of a writer's interpretation with its own power-laden agenda. For example, in representing a tamed and dominated nature, visuals become instruments of patriarchy. Reading them responsibly requires that we uncover some of the values attached to the strategies of creating visuals and to the objects created. This article reviews the current approach taken by composition scholars, surveys richer interdisciplinary work on visuals, and—by using visuals connected with the Human Genome Project—models an analysis of visuals as rhetoric.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2001-10-01
DOI
10.2190/bx7b-nvrj-kf3k-bybl
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Zhang (2016)
    Illustrating Beauty and Utility
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Northcut (2011)
    Insights from Illustrators: The Rhetorical Invention of Paleontology Representations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Yu (2011)
    Visualizing Banking and Financial Products: A Comparative Study of Chinese and …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Varpio et al. (2007)
    Seeing and Listening
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. MacKiewicz (2004)
    What Technical Writing Students Should Know about Typeface Personality
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (3)

  1. BARTON et al. (1993)
    Modes of Power in Technical and Professional Visuals
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Dragga (1992)
    Evaluating pictorial illustrations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Hampton (1990)
    The rhetorical and metaphorical nature of graphics and visual schemata
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
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CrossRef global citation count: 14 View in citation network →

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