Free play presentation at University of South Carolina's Rhetoric Society of America chapter

APRIL 2023 — Considering the rhetorics of alienation through interdisciplinary "free play," I presented a proposal at the April 22 conference. My original concept "Alienation & Alterity: Encountering Otherization in Theory and Art" called for an art exhibition of rhetorical praxis that paired local artists' interpretations of alienation, or the alien subject, with excerpts from a theoretical essay that I've written.

Using a slide deck as a visual aid, I asked conference-goers to choose an artistic medium that they'd hypothetically work in to describe alienation. I also extemporaneously incorporated examples of alienation that I'd noticed from other presentations.

At the end of the presentation I commented on the meta-discourse that each and every person in the conference room had at one point already thought, "I am different. I might not belong here." This was a risk. Some members of the audience responded enthusiastically. Others seemed put at ease by the end of the presentation, which was followed by lunch at a Mexican restaurant across the campus.

During lunch we continued to discuss alienation! I was happy that the attendees could relate to my dissertation topic and felt comfortable describing their opinions and beliefs on alienation with me, a total stranger. The topic of alienation moves from the personal to impersonal smoothly, which makes it easy to steer conversations to productive and meaningful places. This was my favorite experience presenting ideas at a conference yet.