May 2, 2019 (4:30-6:00 p.m., Voorhies Hall, room 126): Partisan Politics and Corrupted Rhetoric

Rex Stem, Associate Professor of Classics at UC Davis, will talk about what happens to political rhetoric in times of heated political division. He argues, via the depiction of Catiline by Cicero and Sallust, that extreme partisanship corrupts the true names for things and causes the same words to mean different things to different audiences, thereby eroding the effectiveness of deliberative politics.

This is the fifth of a series of events focused on Classical Rhetoric that Rhetoric@Davis has planned for 2018-2019.

The event is free and is open to all faculty, staff, students, and the wider Davis community.

March 7, 2019 (4:30-6:00 p.m., Voorhies Hall, room 126): Follow-up Discussion on the Relevance of Aristotle’s Rhetoric Today?

On February 21, Mark Williams, Professor of Rhetoric in the Communication Studies Department at California State University, Sacramento, spoke on “Face News, Tribal Facts, Real Tweets: How Relevant is Aristotle’s Rhetoric Today?” On March 7, Professor Emeritus Chris Thaiss will facilitate a follow-up discussion on key points and takeaways from Professor William’s talk.

Those who were not able to join the February 21 talk are welcome to join the discussion.

February 21, 2019 (4:30-6:00 p.m., Voorhies Hall, room 126): Fake News, Tribal Facts, Real Tweets: How Relevant is Aristotle’s Rhetoric Today?

Mark Williams, Professor of Rhetoric in the Communication Studies Department at California State University, Sacramento, will talk about the relevance of Aristotle’s rhetoric today.

Professor Williams asks, What, in an age of tribal facts and viral videos, could Aristotle possibly have to say that matters to us? Quite a bit, he says. Aristotle contextualizes discourse within a robust system that requires powerful questions, but he knows how to dismiss both fanatical certainties and cynical skepticism. What remains is a confident, uniquely Aristotelian, way to judge the moment.

This is the third of a series of events focused on Classical Rhetoric that Rhetoric@Davis has planned for 2018-2019.

The event is free and is open to all faculty, staff, students, and the wider Davis community.

November 26, 2018 (4:30-6:00 p.m., Voorhies Hall room 126): Follow-up Discussion on The Birth of Rhetoric: Plato’s Dialogues on Rhetoric and Language

Professor Carey Seal, Department Chair of Classics, and Professor Emeritus James J. Murphy will facilitate the discussion, which promises to be lively, light, and fun. The event is free and is open to all faculty, staff, students, and the wider Davis community. Those who were not able to join the November 5 talk are welcome to join the follow-up discussion.

November 5, 2018 (4:30-6:00 p.m., Voorhies Hall room 126): The Birth of Rhetoric: Plato’s Dialogues on Rhetoric and Language

Professor Emeritus James J. Murphy, one of the most prominent scholars of rhetoric today, will talk about the birth of rhetoric and the continuing relevance of Plato’s dialogues today.

Professor Murphy’s scholarship in the fields of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance rhetoric, as well as the history of pedagogy of language use, spans six decades and includes 75 journal articles and book chapters and 12 books. He is currently co-editor of The Oxford Handbook for Quintilian and the book series, Landmark Essays.

This is the first of a series of events focused on Classical Rhetoric that Rhetoric@Davis has planned for 2018-2019.

The event is free and is open to all faculty, staff, students, and the wider Davis community.

May 7, 2018 (4:30-6:00 p.m., Voorhies Hall room 126): Public Rhetoric: The Journalist’s View

This panel discussion features three Sacramento Bee journalists – Scott Lebar, Managing Editor; Stephen Magagnini, Senior Diversity Writer; and Erika D. Smith, Associate Editor and Editorial Writer. Scott, Stephen, and Erika will discuss the role of local news and public rhetorics in a national context. When questions at the forefront of nationalpolitics, such as racism, xenophobia, and sexism, play out in our region, how does the local story, written for a local public, interact with the national conversation? When stories from local newspapers have the potential to go viral on digital media, how do reporters envision their audiences—and what are the effects when those stories do go viral?

This is the fourth of a series of events focused on Public Rhetoric that Rhetoric@Davis has planned for 2017-2018.

The event is free and is open to all faculty, staff, students, and the wider Davis community. The event is co-sponsored by the Davis Humanities Institute.

January 23, 2018 (4:30-6:00 p.m., School of Education Building 174): Public Rhetoric: Its Ancient Origins and Their Relevance Today

Mike Edwards, Professor of Classics at the University of Roehampton, London, will be speaking on the vital role rhetoric plays in modern life, especially in the political and legal arenas. The techniques used by politicians and lawyers today, he suggests, often are no different from the ones developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans over two thousand years ago. Come hear Professor Edwards talk about the origins of public rhetoric and demonstrate the continuing relevance of ancient rhetorical techniques today.

Professor Edwards is a Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Classical Studies and Immediate Past President of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric.

This is the third of a series of events focused on Public Rhetoric that Rhetoric@Davis has planned for 2017-2018.

The event is free and is open to all faculty, staff, students, and the wider Davis community. The event is sponsored by the Classics Program, Davis Humanities Institute, University Writing Program, Institute for Social Sciences, English Department, and History Department.

November 7, 2017 (4:00-5:30 p.m., Voorhies Hall 126): How a Rhetoric of Fear Increasingly Shapes Our Culture and Our Politics

Sasha Abramsky, author, journalist, and lecturer in the University Writing Program. Mr. Abramsky will be speaking on the topic of irrational fear from his new book, Jumping at Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream. Mr. Abramsky will explore how the fear-based frame that we, the public, use to understand a range of complex issues — from terrorism to disease, parenting to vaccinations — has a ricochet effect throughout our economy, our culture, and our politics.

The book is reportage-based, and Mr. Abramsky will be discussing some of the interviews in the book, as well as some of the fascinating psychology and near-science around fear and around how we construct understandings of risk.

This is the first of a series of events focused on Public Rhetoric that Rhetoric@Davis is planning for 2017-2018.

November 13, 2017 (4:00-5:30 p.m., Voorhies Hall 126): How a Rhetoric of Fear Increasingly Shapes our Culture and Our Politics, Part II: Open Forum.

Our winter quarter speaker and date will be announced soon.