Rhetoric between Old and New Media
Inaugural event on June 18, 2024, for new center at Freie Universität Berlin that explores media practices with literary study methods
№ 114/2024 from May 31, 2024
echo – Center for the Study of Rhetoric between Old and New Media will be officially inaugurated at Freie Universität Berlin on June 18, 2024. echo brings together scholars with a shared interest in thinking about rhetoric as a media practice, making use of methods from literary studies to analyze such practices both past and present. The center’s work is made possible thanks to funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG)’s Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, awarded to Professor Anita Traninger in 2023. Traninger is a professor for Romance languages and literatures at Freie Universität with a focus on rhetoric. The inaugural celebration for the center will be held in Lecture Hall 1B of the Rost- und Silberlaube Building at 6:30 p.m. on June 18, 2024. Professor Traninger’s keynote speech “Das Wort ergreifen: Echo, Parrhesia und die Medien der Rhetorik” (Speaking Up: Echo, Parrhesia, and the Media of Rhetoric) will be held in German. Dr. Ina Czyborra, Senator for Higher Education and Research, Health, and Long-Term Care for the State of Berlin, will also be attending the inauguration. The event is open to the public, and admission is free. Please register in advance by June 7, 2024, by sending an email to echo@geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de.
“echo brings together scholars with a shared interest in thinking about rhetoric as a media practice,” explains Professor Traninger. While “classical rhetoric” is often referred to as an immutable set of rules and figures of speech, the scholars at echo want to break with this notion. “We draw inspiration from the early modern period. During this era, between 1400 and 1750 C.E., rhetoric underwent a profound transformation influenced by the advent of print and the interactions between the scholastic and humanistic communities.” This period led to a fundamental renegotiation of the relationship between orality and writing, as well as between in-person communication and communication across distances.
In the present context, the digital sphere offers an opportunity to shed new light on historical configurations. The digital prompts us to take a fresh look at the codex, the calendar, personal communication devices, community, and free speech. More generally, the overarching interest of the researchers lies in examining the dynamics of persuasion within what is conceived of as “old” and “new” media at specific points in time – whether it is the interplay of orality and literacy, manuscript and print, text and film, or radio and television. Researching these intersections allows for valuable insights to be gained regarding the complex underpinnings of digital media, and to go beyond mere technological considerations.
The research center is named after the nymph Echo who, according to Greek mythology, was cursed to repeat the words of others. Perceptions surrounding the nymph have changed over time. “In the early modern period, Echo was thought of not as a mere source of reverberation, a secondary instrument, or the producer of a mutilated copy – she was an unruly oracle that was believed to speak the truth,” says Traninger. Far from being confined to replication, Echo emerged as a figure of resistance and, paradoxically, a representation of free speech.
echo unites projects of varied scope and duration, including book projects, editions, and doctoral and post-doctoral projects, all of which will incorporate workshops and presentations.
Further Information
Venue and Time
- Lecture Hall 1B, Rost- und Silberlaube Building, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195 Berlin. Subway station: Dahlem-Dorf or Freie Universität/Thielplatz (U3), bus: X83 (Dahlem-Dorf) or M11 (Hittorfstraße)
- Tuesday, June 18, 2024, at 6:30 p.m.
Contact
PD Dr. Maren Jäger, echo Academic Director, Email: echo@geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de