Summary of Argument & Plans for Revision

I am planning to pursue the publishing venue Journal for Communication and Culture which focuses on philosophical approaches to human communication and the human condition.

Argument Summary:

I argue that rhetorical listening may present new potential for reflexive positioning in cross-cultural research as we continue to bridge the line between identification theory and praxis in human communication. Nancy Deutsch's reflective essay "Positionality and the Pen" which reflects on her dissertation fieldwork at the Boys and Girls Club of America becomes the lens (or artifact for examination) through which my argument is evidenced. Therefore, I argue that Deutsch's reflection of her research at the Boy and Girls club in this essay presents a starting place for the possibilities of rhetorical listening to engender conscious identifications in cross-cultural research. When we position ourselves as researchers from a stance of openness we begin to employ a pragmatic project that uncovers our potential for reflexive cross-cultural interactions that engages both our commonalities and differences with research participants in the field of human communication.

First Revision Strategies:

-Position my argument in the field of human communication
-Extend the intro section to explicate my argument
-Come up with new title ideas to help focus my essay's argument
-Cut out unnecessary wordiness and content; but keep it in the original essay to refer back to (if needed)
-Look for places to create more subtle sign-posting; my journal publishes articles that sign-post
-Weave argument more strongly throughout
-Decide which parts of the background and theoretical contributions to the framework I should keep, throw out, and revise; my journal publishes article that provide rich background discussions and theoretical inquiry. I have a fair amount of this in my essay. It may be good to keep more of this than I initially planned.

Second Revision Strategies:

-Work on changing my essay from MLA to Chicago Style
-Locating a few more sources that could enrich my argument and subsections
-Possibly consider reorganizing subsections
-Other revisions TBA

Possible Venues for Publishing

JAC: A quarterly journal for the interdisciplinary study of rhetoric, culture, and politics.

http://www.jaconlinejournal.com/

I am considering  this journal because their articles feature a lot of theoretical projects that host topics surrounding: cultural studies, critical literacy, and politics of difference, as well as workplace literacy. My project straddles these topics. They further employ MLA style, which is always a bonus. The average length of articles published is between 20-30 manuscript pages which would give me some room to expand my argument lending more depth and breadth to it.

Journal of Communication and Culture

http://jcc.icc.org.ro/about-jcc/

I am considering this journal because of their focus on philosophical approaches to human communication—a good fit for my project. It further addresses research and scholarly work that relates to social sciences or the study of humanities which my project is situated in.

 

Language & Communication

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/language-and-communication

I am considering this journal because of their interdisciplinary interest in the implications of current research for establishing common theoretical frameworks that cast attention on the many ways in which language is integrated with other forms of communicational activity and interactional behavior. My project employs this focus and examination of interactional behavior in cross-cultural research situations. In terms of focus, this journal may be a good fit for my essay.

The Project

The project I am revising was originally a literature review I wrote last year for the Proseminar in Rhetoric and Professional Communication class. The literature review version of my project provides a lot of background and a long theoretical framework section on Identification, Identity, and Difference. I'm looking to strip down the theoretical framework section, as well as some of the background section and start with a paradigm, which will highlight the genocide in Rwanda as an extreme example of disidentification.

Further, I look to research and include scholarship that works with the dilemma that rhetoric is really about relationships and not this shallow notion of persuasion since this what my project is really about. I use Kenneth Burke's theories from A Rhetoric of Motives in my literature review and I want to show what Burke is coming up short on so as to highlight Krista Ratcliffe's work that extends Burkes' theories of identification and difference in "cross-cultural conduct, where rhetorical listening assumes the possibility of conscious identifications" (48). My project employs Nancy Deutsch's dissertation research at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America in her article, "Positionality and the Pen: Reflections on the Process of Becoming a Feminist Researcher and Writer". I posit that Deutsch's work presents a successful paradigm for her growth as a reflexive researcher over the course of her four year qualitative research study. Using the lens of Ratcliffe's rhetorical listening, my project delineates how Deutsch moves from disconnected and unreflexive identifications in her cross-cultural interactions to more reflexive and conscious identifications over the course of her research at the Boy's and Girl's Club—thus providing a starting place for the pragmatic work of rhetorical listening in cross-cultural research. I may also consider other cross-cultural research examples besides that of Deutsch that moves towards this potential to include in my project.

Master Essay Plans

My Master Essay investigates professional cross-cultural interactions and researchers' potential for negotiating "open stances" and reflexive identifications in cross-cultural interactions. In this essay, I look to explore the intersections where identification theory and reflexive positionality in cross-cultural communication connect. I believe professional communication is really about relationships, not this shallow notion of persuasion. In this essay, I will posit that Krista Ratcliffe's theory of rhetorical listening—as a trope for interpretive invention—is especially important for the field of rhetoric and communication studies as it provides a paradigm for how researchers in cross-cultural contexts may negotiate and move from disconnected and unreflexive identifications to more reflexive and conscious identifications with research participants in cross-cultural research.

My faculy advisor's name is Monica Torres and she has instructed me to pursue the publishing of this essay in JAC and the Journal of American Studies. I am still looking into the prospect of publishing in others journals, so if you have any suggestions...