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- Gelang, Marie, 1957-
(författare)
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Actiokapitalet : retorikens ickeverbala resurser
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of actio. Actio refers to how a speech is performed in a public setting. Actio differs from nonverbal communication in general in that actio is performed in a rhetorical situation with the intention to be persuasive. The primary interest is to find theories to define actio and find out how actio affects the interpretation of a speaker’s delivery. Therefore, the goal of the research is to try to find interpretive concepts for actio that can be used in the theory and analysis of actio in different rhetorical materials, as well as to find out what recipients perceive regarding a speaker’s actio, and in what way actio influences their interpretation of the speaker. In order to do so two different sources of material have been used. One is classical and modern handbooks and recent research about actio as well as nonverbal communication in a wider sense. This literature has been analysed and interpreted. The other is observations and recordings of four university lecturers who were observed by student focus groups. After each lecture, the members of the groups discussed the teacher’s actio, and the conversations were recorded. The lectures and conversations were both transcribed and analysed. In the study of literature and research, the following features have emerged as important aspects of actio. Actio is perceived as an activity that informs the recipient/audience about the speaker’s character, including his emotional state. Actio is also an activity that finds its meaning and interpretation in relation to the context. Actio is performed within society, where traditions, rituals, manuals and so on influence people’s understanding of what is appropriate in different situations. Actio is accordingly a personal activity as well as a part of a human social order. It is deeply rooted in history and its context. As a result of this study some rhetorical concepts are suggested that are intended to describe, explain and define actio, namely: ethos (character), pathos (feelings), decorum (propriety) and kairos (“the right moment”). These concepts can make clear and explain some of the processes that are ascribed to actio throughout history. In order for the concepts to define actio some specific aspects of the concepts are more closely examined and presented Accordingly ethos, pathos, decorum and kairos are concepts that can provide theoretical frameworks and analytic dimensions to research about actio. Focus in the study of teachers’ actio has been on the receivers’ interpretations. The statements presented in the analysis reveal which aspects of actio the members of the group had noticed, and how they interpret these aspects. The analysis shows that in order to interpret lecturers’ actio, members of the group refer to qualities of actio. It is not what the lecturers do, but how they do it, which makes a difference in the interpretation of the lecturer. Qualities of actio meaning those aspects of actio that create the nuances, and make actio appear with variation. The qualities that have appeared to be important for the interpretation of a speaker’s actio are energy, dynamism, and tempo. Energy relates mainly to the intensity of different bodily movements, dynamism relates to the variation of, e.g. gestures or postures, and tempo relates to speed, timing and rhythmic variations in actio. It is emphasised that these “actio qualities” open up a new perspective on actio for rhetorical research. Altogether the empirical body of material of university lecturers has shown that certain “qualities in actio”, the multimodal activity and the receivers’ preconceptions and expectations affect the interpretation of actio. Finally a new concept, “Actio Capital”, is introduced. Actio Capital is a theoretical model that describes the development of a speaker’s actio from actio resource, to asset, and finally to Actio Capital. The model is inspired by Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and symbolic capital along with the analysis of both the handbooks and research, as well as the empirical study. Actio Capital is intended to provide an overall description and understanding of a speaker’s resources with regard to actio. On the whole, all human beings – assuming they are healthy – have the same resources of actio, i.e. the same basic physical ability to use their bodies for gestures, variation of voice and so on. Which of these actio resources a person will use, which will become a person’s actio assets, depends on a variety of different things like personality, what kind of life she has lived etc. Depending on how these assets are used, for instance with the help of actio qualities, they can become Actio Capital. Which of a speaker’s actio assets that will be recognised and valued as capital varies from situation to situation according to the circumstances.
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- Hansson-Nylund, Helena, 1978-
(författare)
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Hållbar dialog? : Retorik i möten om svensk kärnavfallshantering
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rhetorical choices and strategies are central to democratic decision-making, especially regarding decisions on matters that are open for argumentation depending on perspective. The thesis considers public meetings on Swedish nuclear waste management as an example of rhetorical argumentation, specifically in relation to the project of finding a place for final deposition of the high-level spent nuclear fuel – with local geological investigation as a critical part of that project. Project managers have met with other organizations such as protest groups, associations of experts and authorities on several occasions, mainly through local and national hearings. The thesis is guided by a research question regarding the most salient challenges to a resilient rhetorical dialogue for nuclear waste management. The concept of rhetorical dialogue is applied in two ways. Firstly to explain the lack of dialogue that is experienced by participants despite arrangements to reach consensus-oriented dialogue in the Habermasian sense. Secondly in a discussion of rhetorical relations that might explain ambiguity in participants’ interpretations of each other. Three meetings are compared: two local meetings at sites of geological investigation (Kynnefjäll 1979 and Kolsjön 1985) and one national meeting held in Stockholm in 2008. Research materials have been collected from the archives of participating organizations and from interviews with participants. Analyses of these materials are combined with a rhetorical analysis of meeting recordings, with a specific focus on question-reply argumentation. One main conclusion is that the principal rhetorical challenges concern the roles of participants in relation to the rhetorical situation, the establishment of rhetorical genre in the format of hearings, and inclusion of relevant perspectives in the early project phase.
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- Mral, Brigitte
(författare)
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Att ta lärdom av goda exempel : tsunamihanteringen i Tyskland
- 2013. - 1
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Ingår i: Krisretorik. - Åstorp : Retorikförlaget. - 9789186093198 ; , s. 47-65
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The tsunami disaster of Christmas 2004 struck without warning and many countries were faced with totally unforeseen problems. One of theese was how the citizens in the tourists’ home countries should be informed and how the political leaders should act in order to create as much trust as possible for the crisis management and for the actions taken in response to the catastrophe. This task was, as known, dealt with in different ways in the countries that were affected and among others Sweden received extensive critic for failure to act and for lacking in communicative ability. In this study one of the positive examples shall be in focus, more precisely the German government’s communicative actons taken the days after the catastrophe.
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- Mral, Brigitte, 1953-
(författare)
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Attitude matters : attitydyttringar som retoriska medel
- 2010
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Ingår i: Rhetorica Scandinavica. - Åstorp : Retorikförlaget. - 1397-0534 .- 2002-7974. ; :56, s. 4-30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rhetorical criticism refers primarily to studying and critically analyzing explicit expressions of actors in rhetorical situations: arguments, stylistic approaches, visual messages, etc. It can also refer to additionally mapping a more implicit, unspoken and elusive level of implications, for instance, as well as underlying values and premises. This article presents a discussion on yet another elusive but often decisive communication level that has received little attention within the study of rhetoric, namely communication attitudesand how they manifest themselves, verbally as well as non-verbally. When controversial issues are discussed, a personal engagement often colors the exchange. The attitude individuals or groups have developed regarding a certain issue greatly determines what is said and negotiated. Within a rhetoric context, Kenneth Burke discusses the concept of attitude and in interesting but undeveloped lines of reasoning suggests that his own model of dramatism, the pentad (Act, Scene, Agent, Agency, Purpose), be complemented with attitude as a sixth element. Burke seems to even see attitudes as the core of rhetorical, symbolic action. In this article, in relation to Burke but also to Michael Billig, a line of thought is developed regarding attitudes and attitude expressions as rhetorical tools, that is communicative factors that can certainly be unconscious but can also be chosen just like other rhetorical strategies can.
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| 9. |
- Mral, Brigitte
(författare)
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Attityder som retoriska medel : exemplet kärnavfallsfrågan
- 2013. - 1
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Ingår i: Krisretorik. - Åstorp : Retorikförlaget. - 9789186093198 ; , s. 105-123
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rhetorical criticism refers primarily to studying and critically analyzing explicit expressions of actors in rhetorical situ ations: arguments, stylistic approaches, visual messages, etc. It can also refer to additionally mapping a more implicit, unspoken and elusive level of implications, for instance, as well as underlying va lues and premises. This article presents a discussion on yet ano ther elusive but often decisive communication level that has re ceived little attention within the study of rhetoric, namely communication attitudes and how they manifest themselves, verbally as well as non-verbally. Within a rhetoric context, Kenneth Burke discusses the concept of attitude in interesting but undeveloped lines of reasoning. He suggests that his own model of dramatism, the pentad (Act, Scene, Agent, Agency, Purpose), be complemented with attitude as a sixth element. Burke seems to even see attitudes as the core of rhetorical, symbolic action. In this article, in relation to Burke but also to Michael Billig, a line of thought is developed regarding attitudes and attitude expressions as rhetorical means, that is communicative factors that can certainly be un conscious but can also be chosen just like other rhetorical strate gies can.
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