Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities

Rhetoric and the Emotions from Antiquity to the Modern Era - series of three seminars 

Speaker: Professor Rita Copeland (BIH Visiting Fellow)

9th May, 16th May & 23rd May  6pm - 8pm Keynes Library, 43 Gordon Sq.

 The history of the emotions has emerged recently as an important outgrowth of such fields as cultural studies, psychoanalysis, ethics, and the history of medicine.  The history of rhetoric opens another window onto the historicized understanding of the emotions; and current interest in historicizing emotional responses underscores the continuing relevance of rhetorical thought, whether in its pre-modern formations or the broader cultural constructions of rhetoric in our own era.  The opportunities are wide open for thinking concretely and historically about rhetoric’s role in mobilizing and giving formal expression to the passions.