Presentation
“Are you listening?!”: Indecorous voice as rhetorical strategy in environmental public participation
12th Biennial Conference on Communication and the Environment
(2013)
Abstract
This essay calls for a revival of indecorous voice in environmental public participation. Robert Cox
has explicated the means by which low-income and minority members of the public are
discursively excluded from U.S. public forums. We argue, however, that publics whose
participation may already be limited can still enact micro-performances of resistance by seizing
kairos with indecorous voice, that is, challenging decorum through timely intervention. Publics in
Love Canal, New York, and Salt Lake City, Utah indecorously disrupted institutional constructions
of decorum. By shouting, clapping and cheering, and sitting in silence, participants seized kairos
by indecorously drawing attention to marginalizing effects of public participation processes. These
micro-performances of resistance express public frustration with exclusionary practices,
demonstrating inventional possibilities for public participation in institutional settings.
Keywords
- Public Participation,
- Indecorous Voice,
- Rhetoric,
- Kairos,
- Decorum
Disciplines
Publication Date
2013
Location
Uppsala, Sweden
Comments
Copyright 2013 The Authors
Citation Information
Kathleen P. Hunt and Nicholas S. Paliewicz. "“Are you listening?!”: Indecorous voice as rhetorical strategy in environmental public participation" 12th Biennial Conference on Communication and the Environment (2013) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kathleen-hunt/3/