Inviting Understanding

Sonja K. Foss is professor emeritus in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research and teaching interests are in contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism, feminist perspectives on communication, the incorporation of marginalized voices into rhetorical theory, and visual rhetoric.Cindy L. Griffin is professor emeritus in the Department of Communication Studies at Colorado State University. Her research and teaching interests are feminist intersectional approaches to communication, the role of invitational rhetoric in creating spaces for civil discourse during challenging interactions, feminist intersectional theories of rhetoric, and feminist challenges to traditional assumptions about rhetoric and communication.

Foss (Univ. of Denver) and Griffin (Colorado State Univ.) are the principal developers of the invitational rhetoric paradigm. This publication marks the 25th anniversary of Foss and Griffin's original article on this theory ("Beyond Persuasion: A Proposal for an Invitational Rhetoric," Communication Monographs, 1995), making this extensive showcase of the scope and impact of their work quite fitting. Presented under three headings—"Foundations," "Extensions," "Applications"—essays cover the foundations of invitational rhetoric, offer extensions of the theory, and apply the concepts to a variety of artifacts. In a particularly interesting essay, Alina Haliliuc studies the 2012 Romanian film Beyond the Hills, arguing that the movie functions as an invitational rhetorical "offering" in that it provides a brave perspective about highly controversial issues. Foss and Griffin conclude by provoking inquiry into the growth of the theory by looking at ways in which invitational rhetoric can inform pedagogy, is affected by technology, can enact social change, and can inform research methods. No other books on this theory provide the breadth and expertise this one does. This is a must-have for scholars and an excellent supplemental text for the classroom. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

• Part I. Foundations1 The Womanization of RhetoricSally Miller Gearhart2 Proposal for a Feminist Rhetoric Sonja K. Foss and Cindy L. Griffin3 Beyond Persuasion: A Proposal for an Invitational Rhetoric Sonja K. Foss and Cindy L. Griffin4 Beyond Traditional Conceptualizations of Rhetoric: Invitational Rhetoric and a Move toward Civility Jennifer E. Bone, Cindy L. Griffin, and T. M. Linda Scholz5 The Metatheoretical Foundations of Invitational Rhetoric: Axiological, Epistemological, and Ontological Explorations Sonja K. Foss and Cindy L. GriffinPart II. Extensions6 Fusing Horizons: Standpoint Hermeneutics and Invitational Rhetoric Kathleen J. Ryan and Elizabeth J. Natalle7 Telling the Story, Hearing the Story: Narrative Co-Construction and Crisis ResearchKaren Taylor, Rita Durant, and David Boje8 Planting Seeds of Change: Ella Baker’s Radical Rhetoric Marilyn DeLaure Bordwell9 Rhetorics of Invitation and Refusal in Terry Tempest Williams’s The Open Space of Democracy Jill Swiencicki10 Invention for the Invitational Rhetor: Allen Ginsberg’s “Wichita Vortex Sutra” Stephen M. Llano11 Challenges to the Enactment of Invitational Rhetoric in the Age of Mobile Communication TechnologiesSonja K. Foss and Jeanine Warisse TurnerPart III. Applications12 Love as a Strategy for Community and Social Justice Organizing: Invitational Rhetoric in Murfreesboro Loves Roberta Chevrette and Joshua Hendricks13 Practicing Invitational Rhetoric: East Central Ministries’ Approach to Community Development Sarah De Los Santos Upton14 Discussions on Kneeling During the National Anthem: An Analysis of High School Football Players Employing Invitational Rhetoric Kristen A. Hungerford15 An Invitation to Rhetoric: A Generative Dialogue on Performance, Possibility, and Feminist Potentialities in Invitational Rhetoric Bryant Keith Alexander and Michele Hammers16 Understanding Affectively: Beyond the Hills as Cinematic Invitational Rhetoric Alina Haliliuc17 Participatory Graffiti as Invitational Rhetoric: The Case of O Machismo Benjamin R. Bates18 Invitational Rhetoric as a Springboard to Using Dialogue across the Curriculum Patricia Hawk and Rachel Pokora19 Creating an Invitational Classroom Environment: Lessons Lived and Learned Donna Marie Nudd20 Disrupting Disruption: Invitational Pedagogy as a Response to Student Resistance A. Abby Knoblauch21 An Invitation to Reason: The Process of Discovery Essay Kathleen M. Hunzer22 Considering the Alternative in Composition Pedagogy: Teaching Invitational Rhetoric with Lynda Barry’s What It Is Susan KirtleyPart IV. Expanding the Invitation23 The Theory of Invitational Rhetoric: Anticipating Future ScholarshipSonja K. Foss and Cindy L. Griffin24 Compendium of Publications Related to Invitational RhetoricSonja K. Foss, Cindy L. Griffin, and Andrew Gilmore