Description: Haskins terms Isocrates' approach to discourse constitutiveand Aristotle's instrumentaland shows how the former is more congenial to the goals of contemporary rhetorical theory and pedagogy.
Brief description: Ekaterina V. Haskins is an associate professor in the Department of Language, Literature, and Communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Her research on classical and contemporary rhetoric has appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, the Rhetoric Society Quarterly, the Journal of Communication Inquiry, Philosophy and Rhetoric, History and Memory, Space and Culture, and in a number of edited collections.
Review Quotes:
Against a background of neglect and misconception, Haskins clarifies and complicates Isocrates' legacy to Western culture: clarifies by describing what it was and what it still can be; complicates by asking us to consider previously unexamined issues. In particular, she focuses attention on such important concerns as performance, agency, and the methods we use to study them.... Following Isocrates, Haskins reminds us that we must practice what we preach by studying the history of rhetoric holistically--that is, in integrative and intertextual ways, and as part of ongoing academic debates, which inform civic and educational practices.
-- "Rhetorical Review"