BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:18985-63b1e49a991ea9b96b1a5f39a8af2174@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260516T105500Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260416T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260416T153000 SUMMARY:“Acquiescence, Normalcy, and the Urgent Necessity of Noticing” DESCRIPTION:\nThis year’s Kenneth Burke lecture unfolds amid profound ru ptures and existential crises—in higher education\, democratic practice\ , and life on Earth itself. Rhetoricians encounter these disruptions per sonally\, communally\, and professionally\, and our discipline has long been attuned to moments of upheaval and change. From social movements to catalytic images and presidential rhetoric\, our critical interests hav e favored dramatic transformations. Yet this focus has often left us les s attentive to the quiet persuasive force of familiarity and what comes to feel normal. Paradoxically\, moments of crisis reveal a human capacit y to adapt\, domesticate rupture\, and evade sustained change. Drawing o n the crises of climate collapse and democratic backsliding\, this lectu re invites rhetoricians to attend to the persuasive pull of the familiar and to consider the rhetorical energy required to keep change in view.\ n\nChrista J. Olson is chair of the English Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Majorie and Lori Tiefenthaler Professor of Com position and Rhetoric. A rhetorical historian studying transamerican vis ual cultures\, nationalism\, and public discourse\, she is the author of Constitutive Visions: Indigeneity and Commonplaces of National Identity in Republican Ecuador and American Magnitude: Hemispheric Visions and P ublic Feeling in the United States\, and co-author\, with Brandee Easter \, of On Visual Rhetoric. Starting in July 2026\, Olson will be Presiden t-Elect of the Rhetoric Society of America.\n\nFor more details: https:/ /events.la.psu.edu/event/cdd-2026-burke-lecture/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

This year’s Ken neth Burke lecture unfolds amid profound ruptures and existential crises —in higher education, democratic practice, and life on Earth itself. Rhe toricians encounter these disruptions personally, communally, and profes sionally, and our discipline has long been attuned to moments of upheava l and change. From social movements to catalytic images and presidential rhetoric, our critical interests have favored dramatic transformations. Yet this focus has often left us less attentive to the quiet persuasive force of familiarity and what comes to feel normal. Paradoxically, mome nts of crisis reveal a human capacity to adapt, domesticate rupture, and evade sustained change. Drawing on the crises of climate collapse and d emocratic backsliding, this lecture invites rhetoricians to attend to th e persuasive pull of the familiar and to consider the rhetorical energy required to keep change in view.

Christa J. Olson is chair of the English Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Majorie an d Lori Tiefenthaler Professor of Composition and Rhetoric. A rhetorical historian studying transamerican visual cultures, nationalism, and publi c discourse, she is the author of Constitutive Visions: Indigeneity and Commonplaces of National Identity in Republican Ecuador and American Magnitude: Hemispheric Visions and Public Feeling in the Unite d States, and co-author, with Brandee Easter, of On Visual Rhet oric. Starting in July 2026, Olson will be President-Elect of the R hetoric Society of America.

For more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/ event/cdd-2026-burke-lecture/

URL:http://democracy.psu.edu/events LOCATION:Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR