Call for Papers: Rhetoric in a precarious world. Moving forward with and from Kenneth Burke.

Call for Papers

Rhetoric in a precarious world. Moving forward with and from Kenneth Burke.

A conference July 1^st to 3^rd, 2026, at Ghent University, Belgium

July 1-3, 2026
Belgium, Ghent University, research group Culture & Education
Conference Organizers:
Kris Rutten, Ghent University, kris.rutten@ugent.be
Amanda Adam, Ghent University, amanda.adam@ugent.be
In collaboration with the Kenneth Burke Society
Submission deadline: November 15th at 23:59, 2025.
Submit proposal: : KBC 2026 Form Submission

What does it imply to study rhetoric today? The current moment is characterized by many societal – often binary – divisions, by a lack of identification with others, and an unwillingness to move beyond communicative echo chambers, often restricted within the digital sphere. At the same time, many people are increasingly pushing back against these divisions and are exploring ways to move beyond the moral panic and reappropriate digital and real-world affordances to create (digital) spaces for common ground, to react, to create meaning, and to renegotiate our rhetorical understanding of the world.

In this conference, we aim to explore how the study of rhetoric can respond to and engage with these often contentious dynamics. We aim to do so by moving forward both with and from Kenneth Burke.

We will move forward with Kenneth Burke as his conceptual framework helps us to navigate in the current moment. For example, his claim that ‘all human beings are poets’ helps us consider how  “the poetic orientation asks people to see the world as a work in progress to which they contribute and, hence, see themselves as composers rather than a passive audience” (George, 86). By redefining humans as poets, Burke argues the need to move beyond individual actions or societal structures and to orient ourselves to the complex networks that create meaning and constitute identities. Indeed, Burke’s lifetime in politico-aesthetic thinking taught him (and us) that “‘citizens in a democracy’ [...] are charged with paying attention to the ‘ambiguities of identification’ that are always inherent in ‘that tiny first-person plural pronoun, ‘we’” (Burke 50, qtd. in Weiser 10). As “we” is promoted as both the problem (us vs. them) and the solution (all of us together) to today’s binaries, how do “we” as rhetoricians understand its changing roles?  

We also aim to move forward from Kenneth Burke because – as Richard Lanham famously stated – Kenneth Burke started the rhetorical conversation of our time. We would like to continue extending this conversation to contemporary rhetorical scholars and critics in order to explore what is implicated in being (or becoming) symbol-wise in the current moment; (re)conceptualizing concepts from Burke as well as confronting Burke with insights and theories grounded in our most current rhetorical scholarship.

We welcome proposals for papers (individuals, panels, roundtable discussions or alternative presentations – ie. Short films, artworks, etc.) on a broad range of themes that collaborate with, confront, and generally explore concepts of Burkean theory and beyond that enable us as rhetoricians to engage as "citizens in a democracy" today.

Practical information:

• Abstracts should be submitted by October 31^st, 2025 at the latest.
• Participants will receive an answer regarding acceptance in the week of January 15th, 2026.
• Papers will be considered for publication after the conference.

Formats:

• Individual Paper proposals (250-300 words):

Individual Paper proposals are submitted individually and arranged into four-paper sessions of 90 minutes by the conference organisers. Each author will present their paper for 10-15-minutes, followed by approximately 5-10 minutes for questions and discussion per author.

• Alternative presentations (250-300 words):

We strongly encourage all types of knowledge and presentations. Therefore, we also invite artistic presentations or reflections into the conference programme. These consist of non-traditional formats (film, artwork, performance, etc.). Please explain clearly in your abstract what you propose and what is required (in terms of production and location). If you have any questions or concerns about this, we recommend contacting the conference organisers beforehand by sending an email to movingforwardkb@ugent.be.

• Panel proposal (1000 words max.)

Panels consist out of 3–4 papers on a common theme in a 90 min session selected by the presenters and chair themselves. The organizer(s) submits the panel description and abstracts of all panelists.

• Roundtable discussion (1000 words max.)
  A roundtable session is designed for discussion, with shorter opening statements instead of full papers. The organizer(s) submits the description of the roundtable discussion and short biographies of all panelists.

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Jessica Enoch, professor, University of Maryland

Jessica Enoch’s research focuses on feminist rhetorics and pedagogies, feminist memory studies, spatial rhetorics, rhetorical education, histories of rhetoric and composition, as well as literacy studies. She is the author of Refiguring Rhetorical Education: Women Teaching African American, Native American, and Chicano/a Students (Southern Illinois UP, 2008) and Domestic Occupations: Spatial Rhetorics and Women’s Work (Southern Illinois UP, 2019). Her current book project Remembering Suffrage: Feminist Memory and Activism at the Centennial of the 19th Amendment examines commemorations dedicated to the 2020 suffrage centennial using an intersectional feminist analytic approach.

https://wgss.umd.edu/directory/jessica-enoch

Prof. Iben Brinch, associate professor, University of Bergen

Iben Brinch's research explores non-fiction, rhetoric and writing, specifically creative academic writing, scientific writing and non-fiction writing. Other research interests are learning resources, ethos, rhetorical style, visual rhetoric, cultural and practice theory. Brinch’s work examines how visual and digital media contribute to civic engagement and shape cultural understandings of participation and identity. She is the editor of several academic journals, including Rhetorica Scandinavica and the Kairos Magazine - Magazine for rhetoric. She is the (co-)editor Kreativ akademisk skriving (Universitetsforlaget, 2019) and is author of several publications, such as "Reboot and gather your thoughts: Place-based writing as a learning resource for novice scholars" (New Perspectives on Educational Resources, 2023) and "Rampant texts and potted plants. Place-and material-based writing and the transformation of academic authorship" (Reflective Practice Research in Higher Education Pedagogies, 2023). Her recent research is on the intersection of (academic) writing and space.

https://www4.uib.no/finn-ansatte/Iben.Brinch

More information will follow soon.