Whenever humans come together to decide on joint action, rhetoric is involved. Rhetoric is another word for our thoughts about how to best discuss matters that are not self-evident.
This is what makes rhetoric a key element in understanding how and why we influence each other through the use of symbols; and this is what makes the study of rhetoric one of the oldest as well as one of the most lively and vibrant disciplines.
At the Center for Rhetoric, we explore the potentials, powers, and pitfalls of rhetoric in all aspects of public life.
We investigate rhetoric both in its narrower sense as the available means of persuasion in a given situation and in its widest senses as that which binds communities and societies together, tied to fundamental ideas about democracy, agency and citizenship.
We examine rhetoric across all means of expressions: from speech to algorithmically served postings on digital platforms; from improvised happenings to strategic campaigns, from the thundering drums of war to the ephemeral gestures of marginalized movements.
The Center pursues two connected goals. First, it serves as a hub for collaborative scholarly initiatives, bringing together Scandinavian and international research environments. Second, it functions as an interface between academic scholarship on persuasive communication and private and public external stakeholders with an interest in how and why to communicate better.
The Center draws on and feeds into the teaching of rhetoric at Aarhus University: the Master’s degree, the Bachelor’s elective course, and the elective Master.
