[Teaching] Lesson 7: Rhetorical Artifacts

© 2025 Keren Wang — Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
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Posted by: Keren Wang

Before you start this lesson, please READ: Berger, Arthur Asa. 2024. Media and Communication Research Methods: An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 3rd ed. Chapter 4, “Rhetorical Analysis.” Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071939017.

1. Overview

What do you think of when you hear the word “artifact”? In rhetorical scholarship, the term “artifact” is not limited to historical objects or museum pieces. Instead, it encompasses various texts, speeches, symbolic objects, and events produced by humans.

In communication research, one key difference between rhetorical and critical methods and other qualitative research methods is that, while qualitative methods such as interviews, observations, and focus group studies revolve around studying human subjects, rhetorical scholars analyze rhetorical artifacts, or “texts” that have already been produced.

Definition:

A rhetorical artifact is any *human-created symbol or symbolic act that communicates a persuasive message to an audience within a particular cultural context. These artifacts may be verbal (like speeches, essays, or legal documents) or nonverbal (such as images, performances, fashion, architecture, or digital media). What qualifies as a rhetorical artifact is defined by its symbolic content and the intent to persuade, influence, or express meaning.

Rhetorical artifacts are intentionally crafted by human agents (at least traditionally). They draw on shared cultural codes to make meaning, and may appear as standalone texts or collections of materials (e.g., a protest made up of signs, chants, and social media posts). They are often studied to better understand how power, identity, ideology, and culture are communicated and contested.

*Note of Reflection: The Rise of Non-Human Rhetors

Traditionally, rhetorical artifacts are understood as human-made, grounded in human intention, agency, memory, and cultural experience. But what happens when these symbolic artifacts are produced by non-human agents, such as generative AI?

If an artificial intelligence model generates a political meme, a protest song, or a synthetic speech, can it still be considered a rhetorical artifact? Who, then, is the rhetor: the AI? The developer? The user prompting the system? As generative technologies become more prevalent, rhetorical scholars may need to rethink authorship, intention, and rhetorical agency in digital artifacts.

2. Types of Rhetorical Artifacts

Written Texts: Books, essays, letters, manifestos, legal and policy documents…
Public Oratory: Speeches, slogans, debates, campaign announcements…
Visual and Performance Arts: Paintings, sculptures, theatrical performances, songs, advertisements, posters, films, TV shows…
Digital: Apps, algorithms, video games, podcasts, blogs, websites, memes, social media…
Spatial and Architectural: Buildings, monuments, statues, landmarks, exhibits, parks, commemorative public spaces…
Embodied and Collective Actions: Fashions, gestures, rituals, ceremonies, protests, social movements, public demonstrations.

3. Things to Consider When Choosing Rhetorical Artifacts for Analysis

Accessibility
Rhetorical artifacts are often readily available in public domains such as news archives, social media platforms, public speeches, visual media, or historical records. This means researchers can typically access these materials without special permissions or gatekeeping protocols.

Historical and Cultural Insight
Artifacts function as cultural time capsules. They offer valuable glimpses into the ideologies, values, and power dynamics embedded in the society that produced them. Analyzing rhetorical artifacts allows scholars to interpret how meaning is constructed, contested, or preserved across time and space.

Scholarly Contribution and Originality
When selecting an artifact for analysis, it’s not enough that the artifact is interesting or accessible—it must also be analytically fruitful. This means the artifact should:

- Raise meaningful rhetorical questions;
- Intersect with current scholarly conversations or public controversies;
- And most importantly, provide an opportunity to uncover new, significant insights.

No Human Subject Approval Needed
Since rhetorical criticism focuses on artifacts that have already been produced and circulated, there is generally no need for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. This simplifies the research process, particularly for undergraduate or independent scholars, as it avoids the complexities of human subject protocols.

Good rhetorical criticism goes beyond summarizing what is already known. It should advance the field by identifying overlooked rhetorical strategies, reframing how a well-known artifact is interpreted, or connecting it to emerging sociopolitical developments. Ask yourself:

Why does this artifact matter now, and what can my analysis offer that hasn’t already been said?

Illustrative Example: Analyzing Internet Memes as Rhetorical Artifacts

"Internet Memes as Partial Stories: Identifying Political Narratives in Coronavirus Memes" by Constance de Saint Laurent, Vlad P. Glăveanu, and Ioana Literat (2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121988932

Figure 8 – People who lost their jobs as Victims (meme 257; 10 April 2020) from de Saint Laurent, C., Glăveanu, V. P., & Literat, I. (2021). Internet Memes as Partial Stories: Identifying Political Narratives in Coronavirus Memes. Social Media + Society, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121988932 (Original work published 2021)

In their 2021 article “Internet Memes as Partial Stories,” Constance de Saint Laurent, Vlad Glăveanu, and Ioana Literat analyzed 241 coronavirus-related memes collected from Reddit’s r/CoronavirusMemes subreddit. Their digital rhetoric survey provides a compelling example of how to select and analyze non-traditional rhetorical artifacts that are both timely and culturally meaningful.

Rather than focusing on a traditional artifact like a speech or political ad, the authors treat internet memes—often dismissed as trivial or unserious—as rhetorical artifacts worthy of scholarly attention. They argue that these memes act as “partial stories” that express, reflect, and sometimes challenge prevailing political narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Selection Criteria

The authors justify their focus on memes by emphasizing their cultural accessibility, political salience, and ubiquity in online public discourse. By examining memes posted between January and May 2020, they ensure the artifacts are:

- Publicly accessible (archived on Reddit, no IRB needed),
- Politically charged (focusing on pandemic policies and leaders),
- Rich in symbolic and narrative elements, even if fragmented or ironic.

Analytical Framework

The study advances a drama-narrative framework that analyzes memes through four character roles: victim, persecutor, hero, and the fool.

This dramatism-based lens, combined with narrative psychology and transactional analysis, allows the researchers to decode not just the content of the memes, but their underlying narrative logic. For example, Donald Trump is often portrayed as both Persecutor (undermining public health efforts) and Fool (denying the severity of the virus), while frontline workers are typically framed as Heroes.

Figure 7. Medical workers as Heroes and Victims (meme 270; 16 May 2020). From de Saint Laurent, C., Glăveanu, V. P., & Literat, I. (2021). Internet Memes as Partial Stories: Identifying Political Narratives in Coronavirus Memes. Social Media + Society, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121988932 (Original work published 2021)

Scholarly Contribution

This case highlights the importance of choosing rhetorical artifacts that not only capture the spirit of a moment but also generate new insights:

- The authors challenge the assumption that memes lack narrative coherence, showing instead how even brief, ironic visual texts can embody coherent political storylines.
- They shift the focus from full narratives (with plot and resolution) to partial, role-driven stories, offering a methodological innovation that can be adapted to other digital artifacts.

By demonstrating that memes function as vernacular political rhetoric, this essay offers a fresh perspective on how ordinary people make sense of crisis through humor, symbolism, and online remix culture.