Male

BA, Mathematics; Film and Communication, McGill University

MA, Mass Communication, Iowa State University

PhD, Communication, University of Iowa

I work in Rhetorical Studies, which is concerned with the power, politics, and ethics of public communication. I focus on the intersection of rhetorical theory, political philosophy, and the study of public culture. Much of my work seeks to bring classical rhetorical theory into conversation with postmodern thought.

My best known publications are "Constitutive Rhetoric: The Case of the Peuple Québécois (Quarterly Journal of Speech, 1987), Technological Nationalism, (Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory, 1986.), and Law, Rhetoric, and Irony in the Formation of Canadian Civil Culture, co-authored with Michael Dorland of Carleton University (U of Toronto Press, 2002). In these works, I am primarily concerned with the way in which rhetoric constitutes the basic categories for political community and practical judgment.

My areas of interest include Canadian Public Address, the Rhetoric of Impiety, South African Studies, the work of Jean-François Lyotard, Rhetoric as Figuration, and Jazz and Jazz Culture.

I also direct the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture, which organizes events, lectures, seminars, and faculty working groups in the Arts and Humanities.