The Disruptive and Performative Power of Rhetoric

This Symposium aims to cast light on the performativity of rhetoric. If conventional wisdom considers rhetoric as an instrument of persuasion, we wish to advance the scholarly discussion on particular capacities of rhetoric. That is, the capacity of rhetoric to transform meaning, even meaning that is taken for granted, by facilitating theorization. And, the capacity of doing so surreptitiously. In fact, rhetoric manifests not only in its most obvious forms—in spoken and written language, where we might be trained or attentive to recognize it or spot it—but it can also appear in the absence of words, as well as in images, gestures, and artifacts like monuments or sculptures, where we are not too accustomed to notice it. Starting with an overview of what we mean by performativity and rhetoric, we wish to draw insights from panelists and the audience to refresh our understanding of how important is to study rhetoric for organization and management scholars, how to study it, and how to assess its performativity. To push the agenda of this Symposium, we will benefit from the insights, knowledge, and expertise of various experts who have attended to different and manifold manifestations of rhetoric and have witnessed different and various effects. The goal is to renew our understanding of how central to management is the study of rhetoric.