Science and Rhetoric Beyond the Norm
Workshop Leaders
Jordynn Jack, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Shannon Walters, Temple University
In this workshop, we will explore alternatives to the accepted dichotomy of normal/abnormal often critiqued in disability studies and rhetorical studies by exploring resonances of the “paranormal.” Rather than understanding the abnormal/pathological as the opposite of the norm, we investigate rhetorical frameworks and theories existing beyond the norm. Drawing on the definition of “paranormal” as that which is “beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding,” we will:
- examine how “normal science” (established scientific paradigms and methods) excludes voices and perspectives of disabled people
- explore paranormal theories that draw from rhetoric’s associations with magic, including phenomena such as phantoms, ghosts and goddesses and practices such as tarot, astrology, seance and ritual, positing them as resources ripe for use and revision by disabled rhetors.
Readings will include scholarship in disability studies, science studies, medical rhetorics and disability rhetorics. Participants will have opportunities to workshop their own projects in relation to topics and readings.
Note: This workshop has limited space for remote participation.
Shannon Walters, Associate Professor of English at Temple University, is the author of Rhetorical Touch: Disability, Identification, Haptics (U of South Carolina Press, 2014); her work has appeared in journals including College Composition and Communication, Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, Feminist Media Studies and Technical Communication Quarterly.
Jordynn Jack is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she teaches courses in rhetoric of science, women’s rhetorics, rhetorical theory, and health humanities. She is author of three books, Science on the Home Front: American Women Scientists in World War II (University of Illinois Press, 2009); Autism and Gender: From Refrigerator Mothers to Computer Geeks (University of Illinois Press, 2014); and Ravelling the Brain: Toward a Transdisciplinary Neurorhetoric (Ohio State University Press, 2019). Her work has also appeared in journals such as College Composition and Communication, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Rhetoric Review, and Quarterly Journal of Speech.