John Tiedemann at the Agora
Carol Samson

In Fall 2007, John Tiedemann, a faculty member in the Writing Program, along with Ann Dobyns from the Department of English and Darrin Hicks from the Department of Human Communication Studies, founded a research group called Agora. Inspired by his participation at a 2007 Summer Institute conducted by the Rhetoric Society of America and held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Tiedemann collaborated with Dobyns and Hicks to establish a similar forum at DU. They determined that the format would not take a broad, conference-style design but would, in Tiedemanns terms, become a discussion forum, a place to exchange ideas, not merely to exchange postures. Tiedemann set up a website, set a first meeting date, and selected the groups name, choosing Agora because the term expresses a spirited forum, a crossroads where neighboring tribes, crossing boundaries, meet as equals.

Having been active for over a year now, the group gathers two to three times a quarter to discuss selected topics such as the Rhetoric of Global Polity, to review specific texts such as Making Things Public or specific theories of important figures such as Richard McKeon, and to allow time to consider individual academic projects and proposals. Participants meet in the afternoons and evenings, taking turns guiding discussions on communication theory or argumentation or public good issues.

With steady attendance, Tiedemann sees sustainable progress in that there is a core group of 12 to 15 participants made up of DU faculty, graduate students, and staff, as well as academics who visit from Regis University and the University of Colorado-Denver. The group encourages tribes of all sorts. In fact, Tiedemann says, The further afield the visitor, sometimes the more interesting the discussion becomes. . . . I learned about 18th-century political theory from a visiting UCD professor who helped me to flesh out my understanding of the relationship between the rhetorical tradition and the democratic one.

In some of its most invigorating sessions, the group has looked at the writings of Bruno Latour, Paolo Virno, and Hannah Arendt, and it has addressed, among others, questions of deliberative democracy and of methods of saving persuasion as per Bryan Garstens book. In the near future, the group will continue to look into bringing nationally known speakers to campus and to take up the topic of Cicero in sustained discussions at their own contemporary version of that antique crossroads of verbal exchange and camaraderie.

The Point Front Page