scholarly journals The rhetoric of ecology in the post-apocalyptic cinematic landscape

Res Rhetorica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-54
Author(s):  
Evdokia Stefanopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Consciousness ◽  
Main Site ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
Environmental Discourses ◽  
Cinematic Space

Contemporary post-apocalyptic films portray a world ravaged by ecological catastrophes, and humanity on the brink of extinction. Such films echo the urgent environmental discourses of the Anthropocene, while offering instances of a post-anthropocentric perspective and the new subject-formations it engenders. The article argues that the central rhetorical device that generates an ecocritical perspective in such films is the post-apocalyptic landscape. Cinematic space shapes the meaning of all films, and this is even more emphatic when setting is transformed into landscape (Lefebvre 2006). What is more, in the post-apocalyptic films, the landscape becomes the main site of the films’ “rhetorical enviromentality” (McMurry 2017). The article examines the post-apocalyptic landscape in I Am Legend (2007) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and how it articulates the entangled relation between humans and the collapsing world that surrounds them. Using Rosi Braidotti’s (2013) post-human theory, I contend that these cinematic landscapes hint at an “eco-philosophy of multiple belongings” (Braidotti 2013, 49) and enact “a process of redefining one’s sense of attachment and connection to a shared world” (Braidotti 2013, 2019). Ultimately, I conclude that the affective appeal of these landscapes implicates the viewer in post-anthropocentric perspectives, thus prompting new modes of environmental consciousness.

Sentimental Conviction: Rousseau’s Apologia and the Impartial Spectator

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Schoene
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Moral Sentiments ◽  
Impartial Spectator ◽  
Direct Discourse ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
The Spectator ◽  
Theory Of Moral Sentiments

Where Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) extends the domain of spectatorship beyond the ocular realm and claims that we must become the impartial spectators of our own character and conduct, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques, Dialogues (1776) also attempts to probe beyond the visual surface to examine through careful study the constitution of another, who is actually himself. This chapter traces a Smithian sentiment in the radical division of the self dramatized in Rousseau’s fictional autobiographical Dialogues, emphasizing Rousseau’s attempt to liberate his own gaze and render an unbiased judgment upon himself. Although Rousseau does not write in direct discourse with Smith, he applies a strikingly similar rhetorical device to the spectator within the dialogic structure of his apologia. Reading Rousseau alongside Smith resituates the Dialogues not as a work of madness, as it has frequently been interpreted, but rather as an unrelenting struggle for justice.

“You Were Not There,” The Creation of Humility and Knowledge in Qur?anic Stories: A Rhetorical and Narratological Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leyla Ozgur Alhassen
Keyword(s):  
Second Person ◽  
Literary Style ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

In this study, I explore verses in the Qur?an that come towards the end of stories and use a second-person address to say, “you were not there” when this happened. I seek to understand what literary function in the story it serves to address the second person and her/ his lack of knowledge, whomever s/he is. I locate all of these verses (3:44, 11:49, 12:102 and 28:44–46) and analyze them in order to obtain a better understanding and analysis of Qur?anic literary style. I focus on what these stories have in common and how the verses function. In addition, I analyze the verses and their roles in their respective stories. Through this analysis, we see that these verses are generally seen by commentators and modern scholars as asserting the Prophet’s authority and the Qur?an’s authenticity. However, I argue that these verses function as a sophisticated Qur?anic literary and rhetorical device that works to put people in their place: Prophet Mu?ammad, his contemporaries, and all of the Qur?an’s audience, by showing them their lack of knowledge and their temporality.

Civil Worldview of the College Youth

2018 ◽  
pp. 134-141
Author(s):  
Илья Егоров ◽  
Ilya Egorov ◽  
Диана Наумова ◽  
Diana Naumova
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Environmental Consciousness ◽  
Value System ◽  
College Youth ◽  
A Value ◽  
Worldview Formation

The paper states the authors’ view of the civic worldview phenomenon. The civic worldview is considered as a value system and a conscience core, whose attributes are maturity of personality, pro-social activity and social identity. The civic worldview is a step upwards of a kind and a basis for the civic worldview formation, while the establishment of the civic worldview results in the geographical, historical and environmental consciousness. The research describes the types and kinds of the civic worldview, social and pedagogical conditions and the program of its formation in the college youth.

State, Islam, and Gender Politics

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Women's Rights ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Women’S Rights ◽  
Dress Code ◽  
Main Site ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Personal Rights ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Economy And Education

The existing literature on women’s rights and Islam falls short of addressing the relationship between the religious debate on women’s rights and the existing rules of law in Muslim-majority countries. This chapter will bridge this gap by analyzing the status of women in the legal systems of Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco. It will evaluate the influence of Islam on the shaping of these laws, compared to other factors like culture, socioeconomic development, and education. Except in marginal cases like Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan under the Taliban, women’s rights in politics, the economy, and education have advanced in all Muslim countries. But there are some limitations placed upon women’s rights using religious arguments. Everywhere, personal rights about family life, sexuality, and dress code remain discriminatory against women. In this regard, the woman’s body has become the main site of the politicization of Islam, by state and non-state actors alike.

Christograms as Signs of Authority in the Late Roman Empire

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ildar Garipzanov
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Courtly Culture ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Late Roman

The first section tests the main interpretations of Lactantius’ passage on Constantine’s victorious sign in 312 against existing graphic evidence from the 310s and early 320s, and consequently supports the interpretation of Lactantius’ description as a rhetorical device invented or modified by the Christian narrator. The next two sections support the argument that the perception of the chi-rho as Constantine’s triumphant sign became entrenched in courtly culture and public mentalities from the mid-320s onwards, and trace the diachronic change of the chi-rho from its paramount importance as an imperial sign of authority under the Constantinian dynasty to its hierarchic usage alongside the tau-rho and cross in the Theodosian period. The final section presents a contextualized discussion of the encolpion of Empress Maria and mosaics from several early baptisteries, illustrating the paradigmatic importance the chi-rho and tau-rho for early Christian graphicacy around the turn of the fifth century.

Caste and Nature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mukul Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Social Entity ◽  
Environmental Discourses ◽  
Environmental Thought ◽  
Critical Challenge

Rarely do Indian environmental discourses examine nature through the lens of caste. Whereas nature is considered as universal and inherent, caste is understood as a constructed historical and social entity. Mukul Sharma shows how caste and nature are intimately connected. He compares Dalit meanings of environment to ideas and practices of neo-Brahmanism and certain mainstreams of environmental thought. Showing how Dalit experiences of environment are ridden with metaphors of pollution, impurity, and dirt, the author is able to bring forth new dimensions on both environment and Dalits, without valourizing the latter’s standpoint. Rather than looking for a coherent understanding of their ecology, the book explores the diverse and rich intellectual resources of Dalits, such as movements, songs, myths, memories, and metaphors around nature. These reveal their quest to define themselves in caste-ridden nature and building a form of environmentalism free from the burdens of caste. The Dalits also pose a critical challenge to Indian environmentalism, which has, until now, marginalized such linkages between caste and nature.

Eschatology in Isaiah

2020 ◽  
pp. 351-374
Author(s):  
Soo J. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Points ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
Book Of Isaiah ◽  
Mount Zion ◽  
Eternal Hope

This chapter presupposes that the eschatological language of the book of Isaiah is a working rhetorical device for expressing something else underneath it rather than a straightforward description of one’s visionary experience of the afterlife or the end series of this world. Accordingly, it addresses the eschatologically addressed rhetorical discourses in Isaiah. Using adjectival consultation to define “eschatologically,” it argues that the language of these eschatological texts is strong enough to be universal (spatial fullness), ultimate (temporal fullness), and radical (fullness in degree). This strategy aims to rationalize the national crises, as well as to encourage readers to practice proper ethics during those critical and liminal periods. The book of Isaiah illustrates several dystopias and utopias in the eschatologically addressed discourses with the two fixed points—Jerusalem and the Remnants—to serve as witnesses through the ages. Overall, these discourses seek to reassure readers of all ages to understand the divine transformation plan and to join the Torah-based community on Mount Zion for the eternal hope in this world.

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