Retoryka-Kultura : Szkic projektu badawczego na temat związków retoryki i kultury

Abstract

The article heralds a paradigm shift towards rhetorical anthropology. Ivo Strecker, Stephen Tyler, and Christian Meyer – founders of the International Rhetoric Culture Project – argue that it is time to rediscover the relevance of rhetoric for anthropology and by doing so open the way for new inquiries into the rhetorical nature of culture. In the article they fi rst recall some contributions of early precursors of rhetorical anthropology (Isocrates, Giambattista Vico, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Kenneth Burke, James Fernandez etc.) and then go on to unravel some of the main assumptions and queries underlying rhetoric culture theory. The authors argue that rhetorical anthropology provides the right answer – but not the only one – to the problems and dilemmas associated with the practice of cultural anthropology in the postmodern world. They express their concern by means of a chiasmus: How does culture structure rhetoric, and how does rhetoric structure culture?