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Kyle Gerber Wins 2023 Michael Purves-Smith Paper Award

Kyle Gerber has received RhetCanada’s Michael Purves-Smith Student Paper Award for his paper, “Re-imagining the Rhetorical Powers of Prayer,” presented at the 2023 RhetCanada conference. The committee offered the following comments:

Kyle’s study of prayer as devotional practice and theological site (with reference to Amish programs of spiritual formation and attitude) was interesting and demonstrated a sustained engagement with the thinking of Kenneth Burke. His paper provided a sustained, textured rhetorical treatment, and  his delivery was engaged, confident, and  invested in his topic. The work had a depth and maturity and commitment.

Congratulations Kyle!

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RhetCanada 2022 CFP Available

The 2022 RhetCanada annual conference will take place online from June 1-3, 2022. The theme for this year’s conference is Rhetoric: (Re)Conciliation, Resilience, Recovery.

We welcome paper proposals related to our conference theme and on a broad range of topics related to the theory, history, and practice of rhetoric. See our Call for Proposals for details about the conference and how to submit a proposal.  The deadline for proposals is January 10, 2022.

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Michael Purves-Smith Student Paper Award Winners 2021

Congratulations to the two co-winners of RhetCanada’s Michael Purves-Smith Student Paper Award for 2021:

  • Maab Alkurdi, for her paper “Bitterly Rhetorical: Terror in the Autobiography of Zainab Salbi”
  • Shannon Lodoen, for her paper “Where is ‘Here’ and Who is ‘We’? Rhetorically Constructing a Unified Canada”

Congratulations as well to Maša Torbica, who won the Honourable Mention prize for her paper “Connective Activism: #Ottawapiskat and the Third Space of Sovereignty”

There were a number of outstanding papers this year, so the committee’s work was especially challenging. Thanks to all who presented!

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CFP: RhetCanada 2021 Annual Conference, Online June 2-4

A number of people connect on digital devices.

RhetCanada will hold its 2021 annual conference as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Both the Congress and RhetCanada’s conference will be held online in 2021.

The conference will take place June 2-4, 2021. Our conference theme, which is carried over from last year’s postponed conference,  is “Bridging Divides.”

Presenters whose papers were accepted for last year’s conference can present them at this year’s conference, and we are also accepting new proposals for papers. See our 2021 Call for Proposals for further information.

The deadline for new paper proposal submissions is January 15, 2021.

Keep updated on the conference by following the news on our website, following us on Twitter (@rhetcan), or joining our Facebook group.

We look forward to hearing your accepted papers and receiving your new proposals!

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RhetCanada 2019 Graduate Student Prize Winner: Nicolas Noble

Attendees at RhetCanada’s 2019 annual meeting in Vancouver heard papers from senior scholars and emerging graduate students for the RhetCanada Graduate Student Prize. Judging the grad student prize was challenging once again.  Judges David Beard, incoming RhetCanada President Bruce Dadey, and outgoing RhetCanada President Tania Smith awarded this year’s prize to Nicolas Noble for his paper “Myths of Community: Legal Fictions and Rhetoric in Canadian Religious Freedom.”  Noble focused on the provincial and federal hearings related to Trinity Western University’s recent legal bid to open a law school.  The presentation explored the rhetorical strategies formulated by Trinity Western’s leadership in advancing their legal case.

Congratulations Nicolas.

RhetCanada looks forward to next year’s grad student presentations in London, Ontario!