LAUSR

Should rhetorical critics study events in their natural context? Should they adopt methods drawn from qualitative research? The authors offer a resounding “yes” and advocate for “a set of research practices that bring qualitative methods of data collection such as participant observation, interviewing, and oral history into the process of doing rhetorical criticism” (p. xiv). Focused on participatory critical rhetoric, their approach marks a fundamental change in the role of rhetorical critics and their analysis of rhetorical events. By arguing that being a participant provides the critic with a much more nuanced understanding, the authors make clear that traditional approaches are not being dismissed. Drawing from Carole Blair, Dana Cloud, Michael Calvin McGee, Raymie McKerrow, Kent Ono, John Sloop, Karen Tracy, and others, the authors contend that critics “seek to intervene in structures of power and engage with communities by doing rhetoric” (p. xviii). They call for an activist who is personally engaged with the community while simultaneously performing as a rhetorical critic. The complexity of this task necessitates a full-length text examining the role of advocate as critic. While feminism per se is not a major focus, connections to feminist criticism clearly emerge. Their argument for scholarly engagement in advocacy resonates with many feminist perspectives on rhetorical criticism. The authors provide an open-ended orientation to adapting methods to meet the exigencies of a particular critic’s own sensibilities, as well as the requirements of the situation. Theorizing the “intersectionality of rhetoric” as embodied and emplaced rhetorical practice, the authors draw on scholars such as Debra Hawhee and Phaedra Pezzullo to support their orientation toward the body (p. 96). In addition, their approach recognizes that rhetoric itself is “revealed as intersectional and multidimensional” (p. xxiii). The authors outline what a critical turn toward participation means with respect to texts, rhetors, critics, and audiences. The “critical turn” in scholarship since the late 1980s is intricately documented, and the authors provide a thorough account of transformative work authorizing a move toward field-based rhetorical analysis. Perceiving rhetoric as embodied and emplaced implicates the critic’s own body as well as those of others, and places the critic where rhetoric happens. This nuanced stance foregrounds Chapter 2’s explanation of participatory critical rhetoric’s intersections with immanent politics. The assumption is that the critic adopts the community’s politics while preserving the ability to critique the rhetorical strategies utilized in advancing them. The authors define “minor rhetorics” as discourses that emanate from marginalized groups, including those who remain undocumented and unexamined when a critic is not on site. Traditionally, “minor” rhetorical practices that are essential to the moment are unlikely to be recognized. The next chapter addresses embodiment and its implications for how critics perform. Going beyond