This project explores the affective circulation of controversy in contemporary public discourse through a rhetorical ecological approach. It addresses the problem of how flattened conceptions of power and social movements cast in binary opposition prevent effective deliberation around public controversies. The research method involves analyzing three case studies through a new framework for rhetorical studies, called a logic of emergence, to consider the resonance and trajectories of actants (individuals, groups, and institutions) in conflict. The first case study examines the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the discursive equating of antifa and the Alt-Right. The second case analyzes the controversy surrounding a graduate instructor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln who was fired for confronting an undergraduate student tabling for Turning Point USA. The final case explores the cultural impacts and responses to COVID-19, particularly in educational contexts.
Controversies are shaped by the affective circulation of discourse across personal, group, and civic scales. Actants emerge from different spatiotemporal locations with varying degrees of freedom and constraints based on their resonance with dominant power structures. Claims of victimhood and equivalency between opposing groups often obscure the underlying assemblages that enable or limit their respective movements. The significance of this research lies in its application of affect theory and complexity theory to understand the role of power relations in shaping controversies. By tracing the emergence and trajectories of actants across multiple scales, it challenges the notion of horizontal power relations and binary oppositions, revealing how some actants function as attractors, maintaining homeostatic patterns, while others operate as bifurcators, threatening to repattern systems.
Rhetorical interventions at the level of individual exchange are inherently limited by the affective circulation of discourse within larger assemblages of power. Effective critiques and interventions must account for the historical, social, and cultural articulations that structure the potential emergence and movement of actants within controversies. As such, in cases where disputes arise between interlocutors with fundamentally different rhetorical resonances, materialist rhetorical interventions should focus on bifurcating to alter the available points of emergence and their resulting trajectories.
","abstract_html":"<p>This project explores the affective circulation of controversy in contemporary public discourse through a rhetorical ecological approach. It addresses the problem of how flattened conceptions of power and social movements cast in binary opposition prevent effective deliberation around public controversies. The research method involves analyzing three case studies through a new framework for rhetorical studies, called a logic of emergence, to consider the resonance and trajectories of actants (individuals, groups, and institutions) in conflict. The first case study examines the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the discursive equating of antifa and the Alt-Right. The second case analyzes the controversy surrounding a graduate instructor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln who was fired for confronting an undergraduate student tabling for Turning Point USA. The final case explores the cultural impacts and responses to COVID-19, particularly in educational contexts.</p> <p>Controversies are shaped by the affective circulation of discourse across personal, group, and civic scales. Actants emerge from different spatiotemporal locations with varying degrees of freedom and constraints based on their resonance with dominant power structures. Claims of victimhood and equivalency between opposing groups often obscure the underlying assemblages that enable or limit their respective movements. The significance of this research lies in its application of affect theory and complexity theory to understand the role of power relations in shaping controversies. By tracing the emergence and trajectories of actants across multiple scales, it challenges the notion of horizontal power relations and binary oppositions, revealing how some actants function as attractors, maintaining homeostatic patterns, while others operate as bifurcators, threatening to repattern systems.</p> <p>Rhetorical interventions at the level of individual exchange are inherently limited by the affective circulation of discourse within larger assemblages of power. Effective critiques and interventions must account for the historical, social, and cultural articulations that structure the potential emergence and movement of actants within controversies. As such, in cases where disputes arise between interlocutors with fundamentally different rhetorical resonances, materialist rhetorical interventions should focus on bifurcating to alter the available points of emergence and their resulting trajectories.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Weathers, Craig R."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Joshua Hanan","Christina Foust","Darrin Hicks","Thomas Nail"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-06-15T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-06-15T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:48Z","subjects":["Affect","Assemblage","Cultural studies","Rhetoric","Social movement","Communication","Critical and Cultural Studies","Other Political Science","Political Science","Social and Behavioral Sciences","Social Influence and Political Communication","Speech and Rhetorical Studies"],"languages":["English (eng)"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2409","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Joshua Hanan","Christina Foust","Darrin Hicks","Thomas Nail"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Weathers, Craig R."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-08-06T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Affect","Assemblage","Cultural studies","Rhetoric","Social movement","Communication","Critical and Cultural Studies","Other Political Science","Political Science","Social and Behavioral Sciences","Social Influence and Political Communication","Speech and Rhetorical Studies"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English (eng)"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2409"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This project explores the affective circulation of controversy in contemporary public discourse through a rhetorical ecological approach. It addresses the problem of how flattened conceptions of power and social movements cast in binary opposition prevent effective deliberation around public controversies. The research method involves analyzing three case studies through a new framework for rhetorical studies, called a logic of emergence, to consider the resonance and trajectories of actants (individuals, groups, and institutions) in conflict. The first case study examines the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the discursive equating of antifa and the Alt-Right. The second case analyzes the controversy surrounding a graduate instructor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln who was fired for confronting an undergraduate student tabling for Turning Point USA. The final case explores the cultural impacts and responses to COVID-19, particularly in educational contexts.
Controversies are shaped by the affective circulation of discourse across personal, group, and civic scales. Actants emerge from different spatiotemporal locations with varying degrees of freedom and constraints based on their resonance with dominant power structures. Claims of victimhood and equivalency between opposing groups often obscure the underlying assemblages that enable or limit their respective movements. The significance of this research lies in its application of affect theory and complexity theory to understand the role of power relations in shaping controversies. By tracing the emergence and trajectories of actants across multiple scales, it challenges the notion of horizontal power relations and binary oppositions, revealing how some actants function as attractors, maintaining homeostatic patterns, while others operate as bifurcators, threatening to repattern systems.
Rhetorical interventions at the level of individual exchange are inherently limited by the affective circulation of discourse within larger assemblages of power. Effective critiques and interventions must account for the historical, social, and cultural articulations that structure the potential emergence and movement of actants within controversies. As such, in cases where disputes arise between interlocutors with fundamentally different rhetorical resonances, materialist rhetorical interventions should focus on bifurcating to alter the available points of emergence and their resulting trajectories.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Rhetorical Resonances: An Affective Logic of Emergence in Space and Time"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Joshua Hanan","Christina Foust","Darrin Hicks","Thomas Nail"],"dc:creator":["Weathers, Craig R."],"dc:date.available":["2026-08-06T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This project explores the affective circulation of controversy in contemporary public discourse through a rhetorical ecological approach. It addresses the problem of how flattened conceptions of power and social movements cast in binary opposition prevent effective deliberation around public controversies. The research method involves analyzing three case studies through a new framework for rhetorical studies, called a logic of emergence, to consider the resonance and trajectories of actants (individuals, groups, and institutions) in conflict. The first case study examines the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the discursive equating of antifa and the Alt-Right. The second case analyzes the controversy surrounding a graduate instructor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln who was fired for confronting an undergraduate student tabling for Turning Point USA. The final case explores the cultural impacts and responses to COVID-19, particularly in educational contexts.
Controversies are shaped by the affective circulation of discourse across personal, group, and civic scales. Actants emerge from different spatiotemporal locations with varying degrees of freedom and constraints based on their resonance with dominant power structures. Claims of victimhood and equivalency between opposing groups often obscure the underlying assemblages that enable or limit their respective movements. The significance of this research lies in its application of affect theory and complexity theory to understand the role of power relations in shaping controversies. By tracing the emergence and trajectories of actants across multiple scales, it challenges the notion of horizontal power relations and binary oppositions, revealing how some actants function as attractors, maintaining homeostatic patterns, while others operate as bifurcators, threatening to repattern systems.
Rhetorical interventions at the level of individual exchange are inherently limited by the affective circulation of discourse within larger assemblages of power. Effective critiques and interventions must account for the historical, social, and cultural articulations that structure the potential emergence and movement of actants within controversies. As such, in cases where disputes arise between interlocutors with fundamentally different rhetorical resonances, materialist rhetorical interventions should focus on bifurcating to alter the available points of emergence and their resulting trajectories.
"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2409"],"dc:language":["English (eng)"],"dc:rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
"],"dc:subject":["Affect","Assemblage","Cultural studies","Rhetoric","Social movement","Communication","Critical and Cultural Studies","Other Political Science","Political Science","Social and Behavioral Sciences","Social Influence and Political Communication","Speech and Rhetorical Studies"],"dc:title":["Rhetorical Resonances: An Affective Logic of Emergence in Space and Time"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:48Z"}