讲座预告丨南开大学“中外论证理论前沿讲坛”系列讲座 第五讲

时间：2023年4月14日 

10:00-11:30（北京时间）

FRIDAY 14 APRIL 2023
New York/ Toronto: 22:00-23:30 (13th)

Lisbon/London: 3:00-4:30

Amsterdam: 4:00-5:30

China: 10:00-11:30

Abstract:

  Argumentation scholars have been exploring potential beyond verbal argument including sound. This presentation is interested in the subfield of social movements and protest and asks, how does sound provide a resource for resistance? This talk will cover what I call “sound tactics,” which explores how an agent leverage sound against institutions wisely. In my book, I cover how sound provides three unique features: intensity, immersion, and immediacy. This talk focuses on “intensity”, or how listening to sound exerts a continued pressure--because as a sonic wave dissipates demands a listener discern a new signal from noise. I will examine the specific case study of HUResist, a concerned collective of Howard University students that formed right after the Trump presidency began. Over the course of 18 months, HUResist used its status as students in a university to assert its demands against an institution that they felt was failing to uphold its duties. However, it can be challenging to force the administration to the table given the diverse audience and broad context. HUResist navigated its movement by improvising, a technique that allowed them to choose sound tactics that leveraged opportunities in different circumstances to turn them into positions of strength. They were able to use the need for Howard to create potential meaning out of all of the noise to exert force upon the situation and desire the conversation. I will conclude by talking about what it means for a move to be “sound.”