Memorials’ politics: Exploring the material rhetoric of the Statue of Peace

This paper discusses the material rhetoric of the Statue of Peace built in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Installed in 2011 to commemorate so-called “comfort women”—the former sex slaves forced to work in brothels during Korea’s occupation by the Empire of Japan—, several identical-looking copies of the statue have since spread throughout the country and beyond. While many observers have noted the symbolic politics of the sculpture, I argue for taking into account its material dimension too—with the aim of furthering our understanding of how commemorative practices are enabled by mnemonic installations. Building on the scholarship that has addressed the rhetoric of objects and places of remembrance, I ask how the statue acts on and engages with its viewers. Among others, site visits, observations, own experiences, interviews, and visual documentation serve as the basis of the discussion.

Technical Standards and a Theory of Writing as Infrastructure

Infrastructures support and shape our social world, but they do so in often invisible ways. In few cases is that truer than with various documents that serve infrastructural functions. This article takes one type of those documents—technical standards—and uses analysis of one specific standard to develop theory related to the infrastructural function of writing. The author specifically analyzes one of the major infrastructures of the Internet of Things—the 126-page Tag Data Standard (TDS)—to show how rethinking writing as infrastructure can be valuable for multiple conversations occurring with writing studies, including research on material rhetoric, research that expands the scope of what should be studied as writing, and research in writing studies that links with emerging fields. The author concludes by developing a model for future research on the infrastructural functions of writing.

Rhetoric, Materiality, and the Disruption of Meaning: The Stadium as a Place of Protest

Recently, athlete protests about social injustice have garnered much attention from fans and the media. An element frequently overlooked is the role of place in sports protests. Stadiums are iconic markers of identity for communities and play a significant role in the media’s representation of sports games. Informed by Endres and Senda-Cook’s research about place-in-protest, I argue how the Botham Jean and O’Shae Terry protests outside AT&T Stadium in Dallas functioned as place-as-rhetoric to build on the intended purpose of the stadium while temporarily reconstructing its meaning. This material enactment is achieved by the stadium serving as a performative space that authorizes new meaning onto the stadium and surrounding space while heralding it as a champion marker of social justice. I position my analysis within a framework that understands how sports stadiums deploy material rhetoric in ways that produce embodied rhetoric and ephemeral rhetoric that legitimize the Jean and Terry protests as social justice protests. I argue that the stadium functions as place-in-rhetoric to capitalize on its mobilization of fandom in order to amplify social justice messages to a wider audience.

Analisis Ekonomi Politik Terhadap Korupsi (Dalam Perspektif Struktural Menuju Pemahaman Teoritik Baru Tentang Korupsi Politik Di Indonesia)

Corruption is an urgent issue that must be overcome, in order to achieve healthy economic growth. Various notes on corruption that are always preached by the mass media both print and electronic, illustrated the increase and development of corruption models. Anti-corruption rhetoric is not enough to resolve / dismiss this disgraceful practice. Legislation that is part of the legal politics made by the government, becomes meaning less, if not accompanied by seriousness to manifestation of existing legislation. Legal politics is not enough, if there is no recovery of the executor or the perpetrators of the law. This study aims to find out how the political economic implications of corruption in Indonesia, and what strategies can be done to minimize corruption practices and how multiplier effect for the efficiency and effectiveness of economic development in Indonesia. This research uses qualitative method with descriptive approach. In this case researchers describe the results of research. Therefore, researchers conducted observations and interviews then analyzed it with data collection, data reduction, data display, and conclusions. The results can be concluded that the eradication of corruption as if only a political commodity, powerful material rhetoric attract sympathy. Therefore, civil society's intelligence is needed to monitor and make political decisions to prevent the corruption of corruption in Indonesia. It is not easy to eliminate corruption but should be sought to minimize corruption.