The Texas Woman's University English Rhetoric Graduate Organization (TWU ERGO) is sponsoring a special panel (or panels, if submissions warrant) on "Criminal Kairos" at the 2006 Federation Rhetoric Symposium to be held February 24, 2006 on the TWU campus in Denton, Texas.

We are seeking proposals for papers that address the kairotic stance of the "criminal" within any historical era or society, including the present.Questions to consider could include: How have societies used rhetoric to define criminal acts? To define and or create the "criminal?" How has the "criminal" used rhetoric to define herself or himself? How does this kairotic stance influence a society's use of rhetoric? How are these ideas communicated within a culture? Of course, there are multiple other approaches to this research problem; these are merely guidelines to use in shaping your own research question.

"The term kairos has a rich and varied history, but generally refers to the way a given context for communication both calls for and constrains one's speech. Thus, sensitive to kairos, a speaker or writer takes into account the contingencies of a given place and time, and considers the opportunities within this specific context for words to be effective and appropriate to that moment." - quoted courtesy of Silva Rhetoricae (rhetoric.byu.edu)

The Rhetoric Symposium broadly defines kairos to incorporate a wide variety of research interests. ERGO welcomes papers from all academic areas including but not limited to: Disability Studies, Rhetoric and Disability, Rhetoric and Composition, English, Journalism, Political Science, Education, History, Film Studies, Media Studies, Art, Psychology, and Sociology. ERGO is interested especially in papers which present an interdisciplinary approach to the research problem.

If you are interested in proposing a paper for the TWU ERGO sponsored panel, please contact Charlene Green at charlikatz@mail.twu.edu.

Proposals should be in abstract form (approximately 250 words); electronic submissions are preferred.