Collective Memory
From DigitalRhetoricCollaborative
Contents |
Introduction
Memory is classically thought of as the rhetorical canon that allows a rhetor to speak at length without consulting notes. However, the modern definition has a bit more to it. Memory in modern rhetoric is linked to historical, social, and cultural memories, and it requires a few key things of its participants. First, they must have an understanding of language, social codes, and symbols (Blair 53). Second, they must share a background of knowledge (Blair 54); this could be as simple as a couple fighting, and both participants know and understand what it is they are fighting about. Third, an audience must have the ability to remember and accumulate the arguments stated during a speech (Blair 54). Lastly, the audience must have a cultural understanding of stereotypes of groups; for example, the idea of honor and valor being attached to people who serve in the military (Blair 55). If these requirements are all accounted for, a rhetor can successfully call on his audience’s collective memory. Sentence [1]
Artifact Analysis
Additional Resources
References
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