David Cratis Williams
PhD, Speech Communication and Human Relations, Kansas University
Email: dcwill@fau.edu
Phone: 561-297-0045
Areas of Expertise: Rhetoric and Argumentation
David Williams teaches courses in rhetorical theory and criticism, argumentation, propaganda. He is Area Coordinator of the Communication Studies program in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies at FAU, Director of the International Center for the Advancement of Political Communication and Argumentation, Executive Director of the Eurasian Communication Association of North America, and Co-editor of Controversia: An International Journal of Debate and Democratic Renewal. He is also national Vice-President of the Kenneth Burke Society. His current research interests include national and international, mainly Russian, political rhetoric, argumentation theory, relationships among rhetoric, argumentation, and democratization, and the theories and life of Kenneth Burke.
His work has been published in Advances in the History of Rhetoric, Argumentation, Argumentation and Advocacy, KB Journal, and elsewhere
Recent Edited Books
Editor (with Marilyn Young). Discourse, Debate, and Democracy: Readings from Controversia: An International Journal of Debate and Democratic Renewal. International Debate Education Association. New York. 2009.
Editor (with Frans van Eemeren and Igor Zagar). Understanding Argumentation. Amsterdam: Sic-Sat Rozenberg Publishers. 2008.
Editor (with Michael David Hazen, Frans van Eemeren, and Peter Houtlosser). Contemporary Perspectives on Argumentation. Amsterdam: SIC-SAT Publishers. 2006.
Recent Book Chapters
“Russian National Identity as Argument Construction: An Assessment of Political Transformations in Post-Soviet Russia” (with Marilyn Young and Michael Launer). In Proceedings: Seventh International Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation. Ed. Frans van Eemeren, Bart Garssen, David Godden, and Gordon Mitchell. Amsterdam: Sic Sat, 2011: 2008-2016 (CD-ROM).
“Presidential Arguments in Post-Soviet Russia: An Enthymematic Return to National Identity as Argumentation of Citizenry?” (with Noemi Marin). In Proceedings: Seventh International Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation. Ed. Frans van Eemeren, Bart Garssen, David Godden, and Gordon Mitchell. Amsterdam: Sic Sat, 2011: 1181-1194 (CD-ROM).
“The Sinking of the Kursk: A Soviet Response to a Russian Tragedy” (with Michael Launer and Marilyn Young) in Грейдина, Н. Л., ред., Актуальные проблемы коммуникации и культуры-11 (Topical Problems of Communication and Culture−11). Annual volume of International Communication Research. Ed. Nadezhda Greidina. Moscow, Piatigorsk: Piatigorsk State Linguistic University, 2010: 376-391.
“Debate and the Art of Rhetorical Citizenship” (with Joseph P. Zompetti). In Urgent Problems in Commuication and Culture – 10. Annual volume of International Communication Research. Ed. Nadezhda Greidina. Moscow and Pyatigorsk: Pyatigorsk State University, 2010: 122-140.
“Citizen Putin: Presidential Argument and the Invitation to (Democratic) Citizenship” (with Noemi Marin). In The Functions of Argument and Social Context. Selected Papers from the National Communication Association/American Forensic Association Summer Argumentation Conference, Alta, UT, August 2009. Ed. Dennis Gouran. Washington: National Communication Association, 2010: 558-564.
“Educational Trajectories for Open and Democratic Societies: Kenneth Burke's 'Linguistic' Approach to Problems of Education.’” In Humanistic Critique of Education: Teaching and Learning As Symbolic Action. Ed. Peter M. Smudde. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2010: 208-231.
Recent Articles
“Burke Distinguished Scholars Series: Interview with David Cratis Williams” (conducted by Andy King). KB Journal 6.1 (Fall 2009): http://www.kbjournal.org/.
“Rhetoric in Northern and Central Asia” (with Marilyn J. Young). The International Encyclopedia of Communication. Vol. IX. Ed. Wolfgang Donsbach. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2008: 4297-4301.
“Instant Democracy: Rhetorical Crises and The Russian Federation, 1991-2007.” Advances in the History of Rhetoric. 9 (2006): 227-242.
Current Courses
SPC 4517 Rhetoric of Argument
SPC 4680 Rhetorical Criticism
SPC 6931 Special Topic: American Public Address
SPC 4540 Persuasion and Propaganda
