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March 21, 2024

A new book by David Bates, An Artificial History of Natural Intelligence: Thinking with Machines from Descartes to the Digital Age (University of Chicago Press), will be available on April 5, 2024.

From the publisher:

A new history of human intelligence that argues that humans know themselves by knowing their machines.

March 20, 2024

Nietzsche and Literary Studies (Cambridge University Press), editerd by Jim Porter, will be available in April 2024.

From the publisher:

March 19, 2024

Radical Formalisms: Reading, Theory, and the Boundaries of the Classical (Bloomsbury 2024) edited by Sarah Nooter and Mario Telò was published on January 11, 2024.

From the abstract:

March 12, 2024

The Department of Rhetoric is a leading center for interdisciplinary research and teaching in the humanities and social sciences, committed to the study of rhetorical traditions from the classical to the contemporary eras.

February 23, 2024

Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon has been awarded first place for the 2023-24 Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prize in Prose. Congratulations, Maisie!

The Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose contests are open to all UC Berkeley graduates and undergraduates in any department.

February 20, 2024

2024 Rhetoric Commencement Ceremony*

Wednesday, May 15, 2024
2PM | Zellerbach Auditorium

Basic Department Commencement FAQs for students*

How long is the ceremony?
The ceremony starts promptly at 2pm and lasts approximately 2 hours.

Is regalia required?
No, regalia is not required. We do suggest wearing business casual attire for the event. Regalia will be available for purchase or rent at the Cal Student Store.

Is there a reception?
Yes!

February 5, 2024

David Bates appeared on a podcast episode of Entitled Opinions with Robert Harrison. 

In this philosophy-heavy episode, Professor Robert Harrison and David Bates, Professor of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley, discuss the “unnatural” origins of human technology and the difficulty of drawing sharp distinctions between artificial and natural intelligence. 

November 6, 2023

Trinh Minh-ha, Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School, has two new books released this year (Traveling in the DarkMilan, Italy: Mousse Publishing, 2023 and The Twofold Commitment, New York: Primary Inform

October 6, 2023

PhD candidate Yael Hacohen has been awarded first place in the Adult Category of the 2023 Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards, an annual celebration of poetic excellence, for "Amos 3:5".

See the 2023 Poetry Contest Winners announcement on the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation website for more information about the award and to read the winning poems.

Congratulations, Yael!

September 25, 2023

Doctoral student William Morgan co-authored Secrets and Machines: A Conversation with GPT-3 with with Ethan Plaue and GPT-3. The piece is featured in e-flux Journal #123

August 29, 2023

Rhetoric Graduate Student Aliosha Pittaka Bielenberg was recently featured in an article on the Graduate Division website about his summer fieldwork in Cyprus: Meet Aliosha: Rhetoric Ph.D connects with Cyprus’ cultural heritage through his research.

July 5, 2023

Kyra Sutton received a 2023 Teaching Effectiveness Award for “That Which Moves: Affect and Analysis”. The TEA award is sponsored by the Graduate Council’s Advisory Committee for GSI Affairs and the GSI Teaching and Resource Center.

May 24, 2023

The Department of Rhetoric was honored to have Julia Jarcho (Rhetoric PhD 2013) return to UC Berkeley to deliver the keynote address for our 2023 Rhetoric and Film & Media Commencement (watch the 2023 Commencement livestream recording).

May 10, 2023

Congratulations to our newest cohort of Rhetoric Ph.D. students starting this fall! We are delighted to welcome you to our active and vibrant intellectual community at Cal! 

Chiara Bercugot her BA in Sociology from Wesleyan University. She will be pursuing a project about the carceral uptake of machine learning tech and the colonial imperatives that structure epistemological networks, with a special interest in psychoanalytic and cybernetic conceptions of the subject.

May 1, 2023

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor (OGSI) Awards

UC Berkeley is committed to recognizing and rewarding graduate student’s contributions to diversifying the academy during their graduate careers and beyond.

April 24, 2023

Summer Session A (May 22-June 30)
Rhetoric R1A | Class #14989
Tue Wed Thurs 10am-12:30pm
Instructor: Osarugue Otebele

April 19, 2023

In(ter)vention and the Rhetorical Tradition

Rhetoric 103A explores what is called rhetorical tradition from its Western historical origins in Greece and Rome. The rhetorical tradition refers to the multiple and divergent ways that people throughout time have thought about the effects of language, both in theory and practice. Rhetorical study and practice today continues the tradition’s interest in varied, artful acts of invention and intervention that shape our worlds—for better and worse.

April 13, 2023

Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Awards, established in 2007, recognize UC Berkeley faculty for their vital role in mentoring graduate students and training future faculty. The awards are funded by the Graduate Division and seek to foster the qualities of excellence in mentorship that are so important to the Berkeley community. The winners are honored annually at an awards ceremony jointly sponsored by the Graduate Assembly and the Graduate Division.

March 30, 2023