Communicative Engagement and Social Liberation : Justice Will Be Made

This work addresses limitations in current approaches to rhetorical historiography and provides fresh philosophical ground that responds to these limitations. By integrating philosophical ideas, a philosophy of communicative engagement is formed and illustrated with descriptions of three women’s successful efforts to change the face of society.

Communicative Engagement and Social Liberation: Justice Will Be Made recognizes limitations in contemporary understandings that separate history and rhetoric. Drawing together ontological and epistemic perspectives to allow for a fuller appreciation of communication in shaping lived-experience, facets of the two academic subjects are united in acts of communicative engagement.Communicative engagement draws from Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka’s writings on the human condition; extends the communicative praxis of philosopher Calvin O. Schrag by reuniting theōria-poíēsis-praxis; expands Ramsey Eric Ramsey’s writings to provide ground for vitalizing social liberation; and includes the work of philosophers including Hans-Georg Gadamer, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Michel Foucault as well as philosophers of communication including Lenore Langsdorf, Michael J. Hyde, Corey Anton, and others who guide a recollection of the significance of poíēsis in human communication. Myrtilla Miner, Mary White Ovington, and Jessie Daniel Ames dedicated their lives to being out-of-place and speaking out-of-turn to alter the way humanity was understood by members of society at large. The lived-experiences of these historical figures assists readers in recognizing how creativity (poíēsis) can potentially enable liberation from restrictive social circumstances.