Critical-Rhetorical Ethnography - Aaron Hess

Hess, Aaron. “Critical-Rhetorical Ethnography: Rethinking the Place and Process of Rhetoric.” Communication Studies 62.2 (2011): 127-152.

Hess outlines the research methodology of critical-rhetorical ethnography, pointing to the role of researcher as advocate.  He draws on Geertz and Conquergood to posit that ethnography is "the capacity to persuade readers that what they are reading is an authentic account by someone personally acquainted with how life proceeds in some place, at some time, among some group" (133) and Brummet to define rhetoric as "in the deepest and most fundamental sense the advocacy of realities" (135).  Hess proposes looking at rhetoric as process (in an interactional sense), rather than product (in a textual sense), focusing on vernacular and outlaw rhetorics with the researcher advocating alongside community members.  He draws special attention to issues of invention, kairos, and phronesis in order to help the researcher more successfully advocate as a participant observer.  He uses the specific example of his involvement in the organization DanceSafe in engaging Rave culture on changing from mainstream War on Drugs abstinence messages to "pro-choice" informed decision-making discourses.