Charge to the Seminar
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Bill Balthrop and I bid you a warm welcome to the seminar. We have a wonderful mix of people
that we have worked with before and others that we look forward to meeting. Successful
seminars are those in which ideas are well mixed and throroughly shared. We will work to
maximize everyone's participation. This mailing contains a guide for your preparation for the
seminar.
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First, we need to define some terms. By focusing on "democracy," we intend to focus widely.
We do not intend to focus on elections or even on what we normally think of as political
discourse. Rather, think of "democracy" in terms of a broad participation in the making of public
life. To our knowledge, Burke writes very little that we can overtly identify as relevant to our
study. On the other hand, much of what Burke writes relates. William Rueckert has
characterized Burke's work as "the Drama of Human Relations," and democracy is certainly a
form for human relations. One certainly has the feeling of a democratic perspective on social
relationships as s/he reads Burke, and Burke is certainly a theorist of social change. You will also
notice, however, that our title is "Toward a Burkean Theory . . ." which implies that there is
currently no Burkean treatment. Thus, we want to think beyond Burke's work, bringing his
perspective to a contemporary problem.
The contemporary problem that gives rise to this seminar is the crisis in our public discourse. I
will not repeat here any of the voluminous commentary that laments the state of our public
discourse. There is no shortage of discourse commenting on public affairs -- talk shows, talking
heads, spinmeisters -- but few see this discourse as addressing the problem. So, we want to ask
what Burke might recommend as medicine for this disease. But read our subject more broadly as
well: How can an ongoing capacity for social change be framed democratically? What are the
resources Burke provides for such a vision of the world?
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There are a few readings you may want to take a quick look at because they relate in some
obvious way:
- "Electioneering in Psychoanalysia" in Philosophy of Literary Form (p. 132 of the California
edition).
- "Fascism-democracy" in Counterstatement (p. 114) is one of several sections in which Burke
overtly compares the two forms of government during the 30s. You might also think of "The
Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle" from Philosophy of Literary Form in this way.
- Attitudes Toward History is probably the most thoroughly relevant of Burke's books, but it
does not address issues of democracy directly.
- Among those who have used Burke, the works of Dan Nimmo, Murray Edelman, Joseph
Gusfield, Hugh Dalziel Duncan, Frank Lentrichhia and Bernard Brock are probably the most
relevant for our work. I would recommend particularly Brock's essay "Political Speaking: A
Burkean Approach" in William Rueckert's Critical Responses to Kenneth Burke (Minneapolis:
Univ of MN Press, 1966), pp. 444-56, and Lentrichhia's Criticism and Social Change. Also
Hugh Duncan's excellent introduction to Permanence and Change. There are additional
essays throughout the speech communication literature which use Burkean concepts to
illuminate democratic discourse. We recommend that you take a look at some of these.
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Preparing a Position Statement
We want to have position statements from which we can provide an agenda for the seminar. To
begin that process, please prepare 4-8 pages in response to the following questions:
- Do you find a vision of discourse in democracy in Burke's work? What is that vision?
- Which sections of the Burkean corpus do you find most useful in characterizing a Burkean
perspective on democracy? on social change?
- How would you characterize the place of the critic in a Burkean democracy? What is the
critic's role in democratic social change?
- What techniques or concepts would a citizen find useful in a Burkean democracy? (I use the
term "Burkean democracy" without meaning to limit your thinking too much. There may not
be such a thing as a "Burkean democracy" and you may want to think about a general concept
of democracy and the techniques or concepts that would be useful in such a venue.)
- Select a piece of discourse that you believe particularly appropriate to demonstrate the
problems or vision of democracy and democratic social change. Give us a brief Burkean
reading of it.
You need not feel the obligation to answer all these questions, but we hope you will address some
of them so we have a common point for discussion. Also, we hope you will lace your
observations with references to specific discourse that may illustrate your position.
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We hope you will complete your position statement by April 26. We want to make the papers
available on the internet. So here is what you need to do:
- By 20 April, get back to Klumpp at jk44@umail.umd.edu or 301-405-6520 with information
on the current state of your electronics. (a) the preference is for internet access. In your
message please confirm that you have access to Netscape or a similar browser that will allow
you to access the internet. (b) If you do not, no problem. Your message should indicate
whether you can receive copies of the papers by e-mail. Include your email address. (c) If all
that fails, no problem; but let us know so we know how many hard copies will need to be
mailed. Also please indicate the word processing software you will be using. (d) I realize that
I am boldly assuming that everyone is at least using computers with software. If I am
assuming incorrectly, just let me know. We will work around even that.
- By 29 April, forward to Klumpp (a) hard copies of your position statement, (b) an IBM disk in
some common word processing software containing your position statement. By 23 April
Klumpp will let you know how many hard copies to send. As an alternative to this mailing,
you can mount your paper at your own internet site and simply send Klumpp the internet
address so he can build in a hyperlink. Please be certain that whatever is mailed is mailed so
that it arrives by Tuesday, April 30. (Currently Klumpp does not have the capacity to accept
MIME files on email, sorry.)
- The seminar website is http://www.wam.umd.edu/~jklumpp/kbs/home.htm. By May 1, begin
surfing that website. Make yourself copies of the papers posted there. Read those papers
before we meet on Thursday, May 9 in Pittsburgh.
- Please make every effort to be in Pittsburgh for all meetings of the seminar. The interaction of
the seminar will be retarded by late arrivers and early leavers. If full participation is impossible,
we will still be happy you are there, but not nearly as happy as we will be if you are there all
the time.
Extra Credit Question: What would Kenneth Burke have thought of the internet?
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