Disruptive Discourse: Metanoic Reflexivity in Contemporary Rhetoric
Stefan Iversen, Aarhus University
Distinguishing fictional from non-fictional narratives is rarely a conscious activity, yet it is highly important for our everyday lives and, without it, we would soon find it hard to navigate the world. It is well known that a range of art practices challenge this ability, such as autofiction with its interweaving of the manifestly referential with the explicitly invented and performative art with its insistence of the presence of the artist. This talk begins with the observation that disruptions of our abilities to distinguish between fictional and non-fictional narratives have travelled from experimental art into discourses invested in moving and motivating actual people about real issues in politics, public campaigning and humanitarian-aid discourse. Suggesting the term metanoic reflexivity to describe such subversion of expectations, re-cognitions and moments of hesitation, the goals is to investigate the rhetoric of this reflexivity as neither automatically a misstep to be avoided nor always a deliberative advantage. In the contemporary public spheres, it is a rhetorical strategy with multiple shapes and multiple values, in some situations opening viable new spaces for action, understanding and change while in others leading to mystification and obfuscation. Coming to terms with it is an important part of understanding how narratives – invented, referential and in-betweens – affect what contemporary deliberation is.
Please contact Åse Magnusson, if you want to participate via Zoom.