Policy Press

Critical and Comparative Rhetoric

Unmasking Privilege and Power in Law and Legal Advocacy to Achieve Truth, Justice, and Equity

By Elizabeth Berenguer, Lucy Jewel and Teri A. McMurtry-Chubb

Published

Jun 30, 2023

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1529226010

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Jun 30, 2023

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1529226027

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Jun 30, 2023

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1529226027

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press
Critical and Comparative Rhetoric

Through the lenses of comparative and critical rhetoric, this book theorizes how alternative approaches to communication can transform legal meanings and legal outcomes, infusing them with more inclusive participation, equity and justice.

Viewing legal language through a radical lens, the book sets aside longstanding norms that derive from White and Euro-centric approaches in order to re-situate legal methods as products of new rhetorical models that come from diasporic and non-Western cultures.

The book urges readers to re-consider how they think about logic and rhetoric and to consider other ways of building knowledge that can heal the law’s current structures that often perpetuate and reinforce systems of privilege and power.

“This book doesn’t just teach critical rhetoric theory, it gives its readers the tools to apply it, leaving them excited about what they can do to change the legal system.” JoAnne Sweeny, University of Louisville

Elizabeth Berenguer is Associate Professor of Law at Stetson Law School.

Lucy Jewel is Professor of Law and Director of Legal Writing at the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Teri McMurtry-Chubb is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research & Faculty Development at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) School of Law.

Introduction

Chapter 1: What’s Wrong with Aristotle?

Chapter 2: Problematizing Aristotle: Renovating and Remodeling Traditional Legal Rhetoric

Chapter 3: Shifting the Focus from the West

Chapter 4: Multicultural Rhetorics

Chapter 5: Reproducing the Canon, Reproducing Inequity (Traditional Rhetoric)

Chapter 6: Interrupting the Canon

Chapter 7: Disrupting the Canon: Multicultural Rhetorical Strategies in Action