[eDebate] Navy ruminations

[gordonm+ at pitt.edu]

Hi folks.

It's great to be back at great debate tournament after a semester hiatus, especially being able to ruminate in pointed discussion with the likes of District VII fellow travelers such as Andrew Barnes, Ace Garen,  Cameron Hatzel-Treat, Ed Panetta, Dan Overbey, Naveen Ramachandrappa and Naveen Williams. Some thoughts after the first day:

* Remember the 2001 Wake Forest Dixie Classic? The time slot for competitive rounds 7-8 were converted into a public debate forum that featured 15-20 non-competitive public debates on terrorism. The general public and media were invited. Very intriguing format innovation. Has anything similar happened recently? What about bringing this back to District VII, with a time slot on Saturday afternoon created for a similar type of exercise?

* Utterance vs. text. Discursive kritiks often tend to be pitched at the level of single utterance, e.g. "he-man"; "Indian country," etc. What happens when a different referent, i.e. TEXT is utilized as the central focus of critique? How well do the tools and approaches of rhetorical criticism map onto critical practice in academic debate?

Amandla!
Gordo

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Gordon R. Mitchell
Associate Professor of Communication
Director of Debate
University of Pittsburgh
CL 1117, 4200 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
(412) 624-8531
http://www.pitt.edu/~gordonm/