Communicating Terror: The Rhetorical Dimensions of Terrorism

Joseph S. Tuman

SAGE Publications, May 7, 2003 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 157 pages

Communicating Terror: The Rhetorical Dimensions of Terrorism argues that the meaning of terrorism is socially constructed and suggests a new definition of terrorism, chiefly as a process of communication-between terrorists and multiple target audiences. Concise yet comprehensive, this text examines how acts of "terrorism" create rhetorical acts: What messages, persuasive meanings, symbols, do acts of terrorism generate and communicate to the world at large? These rhetorical components include definitions and labels, symbolism in terrorism, public oratory about terrorism, and the relationship between terror and media. This unique communication perspective shows how the rhetoric of terrorism is truly a war of words, symbols, and meanings.

argues that the meaning of terrorism is socially constructed and suggests a new definition of terrorism, chiefly as a process of communication-between terrorists and multiple target audiences. Concise yet comprehensive, this text examines how acts of "terrorism" create rhetorical acts: What messages, persuasive meanings, symbols, do acts of terrorism generate and communicate to the world at large? These rhetorical components include definitions and labels, symbolism in terrorism, public oratory about terrorism, and the relationship between terror and media. This unique perspective shows how the rhetoric of terrorism is truly a war of words, symbols, and meanings.

About the author

Joseph S. Tuman (J.D., University of California, Berkeley; B.A., political science, University of California, Berkeley) is Professor of Political and Legal Communications at San Francisco State University, where he regularly teaches upper-division courses in rhetoric and terrorism, political and legal communication, argumentation & advocacy, and technology and human communication. A past recipient of the Jacobus tenBroek Society Award for Teaching Excellence, Professor Tuman has also taught at the University of California, St. Mary’s College, the New School for Social esearch, and Paris II, the top law school in France. He is the author of Political Communication in American Campaigns(SAGE, ©2008) and the co-author of numerous books, including Freedom of Speech in the Marketplace of Ideas and of The Bedford/St. Martin's Guide to Public Speaking; he has also been the journal editor of Contemporary Argumentation & Debate: The Journal of the Cross Examination Debate Association. His work has been featured in news publications such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, and he has served as a network analyst for news programs on ABC, NBC, CNN and CNN International, FOX and the BBC. He currently appears as a regular political commentator for CBS in the western United States.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Communicating Terror: The Rhetorical Dimensions of Terrorism
• Author: Joseph S. Tuman
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, 2003
• ISBN: 0761927654, 9780761927655
• Length: 157 pages
• Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies