TY - JOUR

T1 - Speaking on Behalf of Others

T2 - Rhetorical Agency and Epideictic Functions in Official Apologies

AU - Villadsen, Lisa Storm

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - The official apology is a discursive phenomenon with complex rhetorical significance and must be distinguished from the apologia. The main difference is that the official apology entails an element of regret and acknowledgement of wrongdoing that makes it an even more delicate rhetorical matter than the apologia – not least becasue it involves a collectivity such as a nation state. The symbolic nature of the assumption of guilt is therefore particularly clear. This article argues that official apologies, however circumscribed by public skecpticism, nevertheless may serve important functions as loci for articulating the norms of a society at a given time. The article discusses how the official apology raises a host of issues concerning rhetorical agency and argues that this particular type of rhetoric is a promising point of departure in the ongoing pedagogical and theoretical exploration of the concept of rhetorical agency. By integrating theories of epideictic rhetoric and of rhetorical agency, the complexity of the official apology is analyzed, and through a reading og an official apology by the Danish Prime minister, the essay examines how rhetorical agency is both established and undercut by the speaker.

AB - The official apology is a discursive phenomenon with complex rhetorical significance and must be distinguished from the apologia. The main difference is that the official apology entails an element of regret and acknowledgement of wrongdoing that makes it an even more delicate rhetorical matter than the apologia – not least becasue it involves a collectivity such as a nation state. The symbolic nature of the assumption of guilt is therefore particularly clear. This article argues that official apologies, however circumscribed by public skecpticism, nevertheless may serve important functions as loci for articulating the norms of a society at a given time. The article discusses how the official apology raises a host of issues concerning rhetorical agency and argues that this particular type of rhetoric is a promising point of departure in the ongoing pedagogical and theoretical exploration of the concept of rhetorical agency. By integrating theories of epideictic rhetoric and of rhetorical agency, the complexity of the official apology is analyzed, and through a reading og an official apology by the Danish Prime minister, the essay examines how rhetorical agency is both established and undercut by the speaker.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - officiel undskyldning

KW - retorisk agency

KW - epideiktiske funktioner

KW - Anders Fogh Rasmussen

KW - official apology

KW - rhetorical agency

KW - epideictic functions

KW - Anders Fogh Rasmussen

U2 - 10.1080/02773940701779769

DO - 10.1080/02773940701779769

M3 - Journal article

VL - 38

SP - 25

EP - 45

JO - Rhetoric Society Quarterly

JF - Rhetoric Society Quarterly

SN - 0277-3945

IS - 1

ER -