Distinguished Guest Scholar Dr. John Louis Lucaites, professor of rhetoric and public culture in the Department of Communication at Indiana University, will examine various forms and theories of visual rhetoric in the context of public culture, ideology and civic participation. “Dr. Lucaites is a leading expert in the rapidly growing area of visual rhetoric,” said Jim Cherney, WSU assistant professor and coordinator of the seminar. “The critique of visual texts – films, photographs, tattoos and even bodies – has become a new focus for rhetorical analysis.”
The public is invited to a lecture titled “The Post-Cold War Nuclear Optic; or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and See the Bomb” on Tuesday, June 14, at 6 p.m. in the Bernath Auditorium, Undergraduate Library, on the campus of Wayne State University. The lecture is free and reservations are not required. The lecture examines how nuclear imagery eventually gave way to more contemporary instances of "Shock and Awe" animated by what Lucaites characterizes as a "post-cold war nuclear optic." In his presentation, Lucaites draws upon the allegorical reading strategy he developed with Robert Hariman of Northwestern University in their book No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture and Liberal Democracy.
For more information about the Summer Doctoral Series, visit http://comm.wayne.edu/summerseminar.php.