The Faculty Development Center (FDC) invites faculty and academic staff to join our Fall reading circle led by Paige Dhyne on Rhetorical Listening in Action: A Concept-Tactic Approach by Krista Ratcliffe & Kyle Jensen.

In our polarized political landscape that is bipartisan America, the term “rhetoric” has morphed from referring to the art of dialectic, logical argumentation and persuasion into a weaponized buzzword or dog whistle for the “right” or “left.” When used as the latter, we find that rhetorical messaging causes real damage in our communities, sometimes through inaudible and/or invisible methods to known by the best listeners. So how do we make the inaudible audible and daub salve on the deep wounds that words inflict in a way that is productive? It’s often said that we should listen to listen and not listen to respond, but Ratcliffe and ​Jensen challenge this: productive listeners do listen to respond, but only because they know that true listening requires a person to see, hear, and interpret the other’s perspective first and in comparison to their own beliefs second. Through use of heuristics and contemporary examples of race, ethics, gender, socioeconomics, systemic corruption, and politics, Ratcliffe and ​Jensen expanded Ratcliffe’s 1999 article “Rhetorical Listening: A Trope for Interpretive Invention and a ‘Code of Cross-Cultural Conduct’” into a book length work that reasserts that listening is a critical component of any rhetorical action. Rhetorical Listening in Action: A Concept-Tactic Approach is not just an essential read for those of us who learn, lecture, teach, and participate in higher education, it’s an essential call to action; we all have something to learn when it relates to being a better listener and communicator, especially when we want to create meaningful, rhetorical change across difference.

Those who participated in The Dialogic Classroom, reading circle, teach intergroup dialog, or are just plain curious about how listening is just as important as reading/writing/speaking in rhetorical situations will find this fall reading circle a transformative experience. We will engage in reflective reading discussion, but also applied listening exercises as well.

Our reading circle will convene on the following dates/times:

October 1, October 8, October 22
Room Location: Duke Library, Room 043