5th International Rhetoric Workshop Theme: “Rhetorical Flows: Building Transnational Solidarities & Cultures of Resistance.”
Location/dates: August 5-7, 2026. Paco Urondo Cultural Center, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
NEW Submission Deadline (250-word abstracts in English or Spanish): April 18, 2026
Submit here: https://tinyurl.com/IRW-Submissions
The Planning Committee for the 5th Biennial International Rhetoric Workshop invites international PhD students, emerging scholars, and established researchers to come together and consider the myriad ways that our contemporary and established traditions of rhetorical theory, pedagogy, and criticism inform global flows of meaning-making.
In the heart of Buenos Aires, at the Centro Cultural Paco Urondo (Institute of Linguistics, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, UBA), the workshop will center on the theme, “Rhetorical Flows: Building Transnational Solidarities and Cultures of Resistance,” inviting participants to reflect critically with and from a city that has long been a site of poetic militancy, political mobilization, and intercultural exchange. Named for Francisco “Paco” Urondo — poet, journalist, academic, and activist who fused literary creativity with resistance to authoritarianism — this Center locates us amid a legacy of words as weapons, ideas as action, and networks of solidarity that transcend borders and boundaries. Buenos Aires itself, with its histories of migration, contestation, memory, and reappropriations of public space, offers a vital ground for exploring how rhetorical practices flow across languages, geographies, traditions, time, peoples, and cultures. We welcome proposals that draw on this spirit: whether tracing the circulation of rhetorical forms, investigating collaborative practices of dissent, or imagining new solidarities that respond to both local and global urgencies.
This year’s theme prompts us to examine the notions of
1) Solidarity in a global, yet increasingly divided world; and
2) Strategies of rebellion against—and critical engagements with—the gaps between the affluent and the poor, technology and nature, artificiality and authenticity, generations and communities.
In preparation for the 5th International Rhetoric Workshop 2026, we invite submissions on the themes of solidarity, transnationality, and resistance.
Proposals may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:
-Decolonial and Indigenous rhetorics of solidarity and survivance
-Migration, diaspora, and the rhetoric of belonging
-Feminist, queer, trans, and transnational alliances in rhetorical practice
-Environmental rhetorics and planetary interdependence
-Digital flows: global media, activism, and networked publics
-Affective and embodied rhetorics of protest, care, and collective action
-Visual rhetorics and the representation of violence, resistance, and hope
-Rhetorics of empire, extraction, and resistance
-Language, power, and worldmaking across cultural and linguistic contexts
-Rhetorical imaginaries of abolition, decolonization, and mutual aid
-Poetics, performance, and storytelling as transnational rhetorical practice
-Public memory, commemoration, and the shaping of collective solidarities
– Argumentation, discourse, and the negotiation of local, regional, and global crises
-Histories of resistance, revolutionary communication, and counterpublics
-Theorizing “flow” as rhetorical method, metaphor, and material condition
-Solidarities across difference: translation, misunderstanding, and co-creation
-Rhetoric and the Global South: epistemic justice and counter-knowledge
-Border rhetorics, mobility, and the politics of movement
-Social movement rhetorics and transnational networks of dissent
-Pedagogies of resistance and transnational rhetorical education
During the 2026 International Rhetoric Workshop, participants will have the opportunity:
a) to attend lectures of prominent keynote speakers in the field of rhetoric who will
provide in-depth insights into current trends, challenges, and future directions on
the theme, and who will participate in other aspects of the workshop as well
b) to participate in workshop sessions where they can share their research projects,
book chapters, articles, and dissertations in progress with peers and senior
scholars; and
c) to develop networking opportunities and meaningful relationships in a small
workshop environment for collaboration with researchers in the field from all over
the world
Submission Guidelines:
– Please submit proposed abstracts (no more than 250 words) to the Submission Form. We are accepting proposals in English and Spanish. Here is the link: https://tinyurl.com/IRW-Submissions
– The content of the abstracts should clearly outline the research question, methodology, and expected contribution to the field.
-Applicants can expect to hear back by April 20, 2026
In an effort to reflect both regional economic differences and employment/rank distinctions while prioritizing accessibility for Latin American participants, we are also happy to announce our very modest participant fee tier structure, which is consistent with other similar events in that region (see below).
Undergraduate Students – Free
Graduate Students (Latin America) – $15-25
Faculty/Researchers (Latin America) – $30-40
Graduate Students (Global North) – $60-80
Faculty (Global North) – $150-200
Optional “Sponsor a Grad Student” contribution – $50-100
Special shout out to our incredible graduate Planning Committee, the IRW Executive Committee, Alejandra Vitale and our local host graduate reps, and those of you whom I have consulted for helping us figure out how to host our first IRW outside Europe or North America while respecting/honoring regional academic cultural norms.
See the short version of the CFP and speaker bios here (includes a link to a Spanish-language version):
https://www.internationalrhetoric.com/2026
Additional information can be found on the IRW website. Any questions can be forwarded to internationalrhetoric or mthuwp.