Carolyn Skinner, professor in the Department of English, gives a lecture titled, "Receptive, Collective Rhetorical Activity in US Health and Medicine around 1900."
Reception scholarship offers an important but underutilized perspective on how rhetoric works to reflect, shift, and maintain people’s worldviews. Examining reception as a form of collective rhetorical activity also presents an opportunity to bring together scholarly strands, like historical women’s writing and professional and technical writing, that are not often part of the same conversation. In this lecture, I talk about the potential of this interweaving, using examples from U.S. medical writing around 1900, such as reports on the research finding that mosquitoes transmit malaria, the debate over the causes of the high rates of tuberculosis among African Americans, and press coverage of the obscenity trial of a woman physician in Chicago. I conclude by outlining my plans for continuing this project, suggesting that we can learn much about how rhetoric informs individual and group perspectives, decisions, and behaviors by looking at receptive, collective rhetorical activity.
Inaugural lectures celebrate Arts and Humanities faculty who have been promoted to the rank of professor. All lectures are held in the Faculty Club Grand Lounge from 4-6 p.m. and are preceded by a reception and followed by Q&A and discussion. All lectures are free and open to the public.
The Arts and Humanities Inaugural Lecture Series is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences
