Several regional bodies of NCA recently held their annual conventions. Panelists speaking on Burkean topics included the following:

The 2008 Central States Communication Conference held their annual meeting April 9-13th, in Madison, Wisconsin. Papers of interest included: In the panel on BURKEAN CRITICISM: COMPETITIVE PAPERS see “A dramatistic look at George W. Bush’s October 7, 2002, speech: Manipulation of the American people.” Emily C. Lenard, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

In the panel TOP PAPERS IN THE GRADUATE CAUCUS see “Media framing and intimate power violence: Exploring coverage of the Ron Artest case and public opinion of battered women using Burke’s cluster criticism.” Kathaleen Reed, University of the Pacific

The Western States Communication Association held their conference February 15-19, 2008. Papers of interest included: In the panel TOP THREE PAPERS IN THE ORGANIZATION FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN AND COMMUNICATION: “This is Not My Sisterhood”: Breast Cancer Culture, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Burke’s Perspective by Incongruity" Nicole E. Hurt, University of Georgia

In the panel LAUGHING AT THE SHIRLEY Q. LIQUOR MINSTREL SHOW: EXPLORING THE POTENTIALS AND LIMITATIONS OF CRITICAL VIROLOGY: “The Colbert Report’s Tragic Satire/The Daily Show’s Comic Irony: Kenneth Burke’s Frames and the “Fake” News.” George F. McHendry, Jr., Colorado State University

In the Southern States Communication Association Convention held April 2-6, 2008, papers included: WHEN MEDIA AND CULTURE COLLIDE: KENNETH BURKE, POP CULTURE, AND IMAGE, “Scapegoating the Big Easy: Melodramatic Individualism as Trained Incapacity in K-Ville” Shaun Treat, University of North Texas

“Stan Lee’s Soapbox: A Burkean Look at the Rebirth of the American Comic Book” Ron Roach, Young Harris College

“Sonic Savannah: Walking Through the Garden of Good and Evil” Stacey Treat, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

“Hypocrites and Nasty Boys: Senator Larry Craig and Gay Rights Caught in the Grotesque Frame” Wesley Buerkle, East Tennessee State University

WHO WAS BURKE AND WHY WAS HE HERE? PAPERS ON KENNETH BURKE’S LIFE AND PHILOSOPHY

“Suicide Sermons: Confessing (or Converting?) Through Poetry,” Yvonne Kline, University of South Florida

“Existentialism as Equipment for Living? Kenneth Burke, Rhetoric, and the Unending Conversation with the Existentialists,” Zac Gershberg, Louisiana State University

“When Kenneth Burke was a Village Bohemian” David Cratis Williams, Florida Atlantic University

 
PIETY, IMPIETY, AND GARGOYLES IN POPULAR CULTURE

“Impious Piety in Contemporary Christian Rock Music” Brian Johnston, University of South Florida

“Nazi Baby-Steps: The Unintended Creation of a New Heathen Fascism” (in Death Metal Music) Gregory Vance Smith, University of South Florida

“Documenting Identity: Alterity and Authenticity in Taxicab Confessions” Steven Schoen, University of South Florida

“Incongruity and Gargoyles: The Image of Violent Woman in Popular Film” Carly Giesler, University of South Florida

“Innocence and Incongruity: Lesbian ‘First Love’ Romances in Popular Film” Emily Ryalls, University of South Florida

THE HUMAN CONDITION IN TIMES OF WAR: BURKE, TERRORISM AND THE WAR ON IRAQ

“Who is Axis of Evil?” Huikyong Pang, University of South Florida

“Identification through Antithesis and the Congressional Response to September 11” Brad Hall, Wake Forest University

“Shift Happens: Burke, Kuhn and the American View of the War in Iraq” David Steele, University of South Florida

OLD MESSAGES, NEW MEDIA

“Union Kids: Using Burkean Identification and the ‘Union Bug’ to Recruit Children to the Labor Movement through the AFLCIO Website” Valerie Lynn Schrader, Ohio University

“ You’ve Got Faith: An Analysis of Identification and Identity on Congregational Websites” Taleyna M. Morris, Missouri State University

KENNETH BURKE AND COMMUNICATING TO CHANGE THE HUMAN CONDITION: A DISCUSSION PANEL Panelists: David Payne, University of South Florida Mari Tonn, University of Maryland David Cratis Williams, Florida Atlantic University Bill Kinsella, North Carolina State University Andrew King, Louisiana State University

DIFFICULT NOTIONS IN DRAMATISM

“Difficult Notions: Dramatism as Literal” Clarke Rountree, University of Alabama in Huntsville

“Difficult Notions: Pure Persuasion” Richard Thames, Duquesne University

“Difficult Notions: Reason, Rationality, and Argument” David Cratis Williams, Florida Atlantic University