Jennifer Mercieca

Jennifer Mercieca is an American scholar of rhetoric. She is a professor of communication at Texas A&M University. She has written about the rhetorical style of Donald Trump, and the founding narratives that informed the political culture of the United States.

Jennifer Mercieca
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsTexas A&M University

Education and positions

Mercieca attended the University of the Pacific, where she earned a B.A. degree in communications in 1995.[1] She then continued to study there as a graduate student, earning an M.A. in communications in 1997.[1] In 2003, she obtained a PhD in speech communication at the University of Illinois.[1]

In 2003, Mercieca joined the faculty in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University.[1] In 2009 she became an Associate Professor there.[1] In 2015 she was a founder and briefly Acting Director of The Texas A&M Agora, and during 2016–2017 she was a Faculty Administrative Fellow in the College of Liberal Arts.[1]

Research

In 2010, Mercieca published Founding Fictions.[2] The book argues that the political philosophy of the early United States can be understood as a type of meta-narrative that generates the stories that individuals use to inform their views of their role in society.[3] She analyzes the way that the founding stories of the United States, which informed its governing documents and its public discourse, informed Americans' views of themselves and their roles in society between 1776 and 1845.[4] She argues that the narratives that were constructed in American public discourse reveal a fundamental tension between the two goals of having a stable republic and having an active citizenry.[5]

In 2020, Mercieca published a second book, called Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump. In Demagogue for President, Mercieca argues that Donald Trump campaigned for president successfully by employing classic rhetorical tricks that have historically been effectively employed by a variety of demagogues.[6] She argues that Trump's language can be classified into six distinct rhetorical patterns, of which three are employed to divide his opponents and three are used to unite his supporters.[7] For example, she argues that Trump is deliberately vague or transgressive in certain situations because these can be useful traits of persuasive messaging, and that there is historical precedent for rhetoricians to use these tools.[8] However, she also argues that, while these rhetorical devices can be highly effective and are employed for specific strategic purposes,[7] they also have identifiable limitations in their capacity to persuade people.[9] Demagogue for President was included on Literary Hub's summer 2020 list of "The Best New Books to Read This Summer",[10] as well as its "Most Anticipated Books of 2020".[11]

Selected works

  • Founding Fictions (2010)
  • Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump (2020)

References

  1. "Jennifer Mercieca Profile". Texas A&M University. 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  2. Loebs, Patrick (1 March 2013). "Review of Founding Fictions". Rhetoric Society Quarterly. 43 (2): 205–208. doi:10.1080/02773945.2013.774256. S2CID 147181888.
  3. Saas, William O. (April 2011). "Review of Founding Fictions". Journal of Communication. 61 (2): E11–E13. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01548.x.
  4. Messer, Peter C. (1 December 2011). "Review of Founding Fictions". The Journal of American History. 98 (3): 824–825. doi:10.1093/jahist/jar350.
  5. Browne, Stephen Howard (1 January 2012). "Review of Founding Fictions". Rhetoric and Public Affairs. 15 (1): 180–183. doi:10.1353/rap.2012.0009. S2CID 178469589.
  6. Weiner, Tim (24 July 2020). "A deep dive into President Trump's doublespeak and other rhetorical tricks". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  7. Rosenberg, Paul (4 July 2020). "The secret of his success: Donald Trump's six weird tricks for authoritarian rule". Salon. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  8. Shafer, Jack (1 June 2020). "Donald Trump Could Write the Book on Talking Like a Demagogue". Politico. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  9. Kruse, Michael (17 April 2020). "Donald Trump's Greatest Escape". Politico. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  10. "The Best New Books to Read This Summer". Literary Hub. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  11. "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2020, Part 2". Literary Hub. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.

Jennifer Mercieca publications indexed by Google Scholar

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