The Colloquium on Ancient Rhetoric (CAR) is issuing a call for papers for a conference on "Theory after Practice in Greek and Roman Rhetoric," to be held at the University of Toronto on October 10-11, 2025.
Rhetorical theory in Greco-Roman antiquity describes and frequently prescribes rhetorical practice. Nevertheless, the most famous and influential examples of theoretical texts all emerge in the wake of practice. Plato reacts to the Sophists. Aristotle’s account of rhetoric appears roughly a century after Gorgias’ visit to Athens and in the period when the last of the great speeches of democratic Athens were being delivered. Cicero’s rhetorical works emerge as the oratory of the republic is dying. They are the writings of a Cicero who has himself been largely silenced and sidelined. Quintilian offers up a comprehensive education in oratory to students whose constrained concrete institutional futures poorly align with the expansive scope of his curriculum.
We wish to take a revised and critical look at the relationship between theory and practice. Theory will be treated as an intervention rather than a neutral description. Why was this intervention needed? To what extent is it successful in constraining future practice? What is emphasized or elided within these accounts? What emerges if more practical works are re-read in a light that no longer privileges antecedent or contemporary theoretical works?
Participants are encouraged to revisit canonical practical and theoretical texts. They will also explore de-centered genres as a way of exploring the complex relationship between theory and practice. Panegyric is maligned, under-, and perhaps mis-theorized on the one hand, but it is a major genre in practice. The same can be said of declamation. The Christian sermon emerges as a new major genre of public oratory in the Greco-Roman world and brings with it major new expectations. To what extent does theory attempt to catch up with and accommodate itself to a changing and expanding world of practice? The adequacy of canonical rhetorical theory to other traditions is problematic at both a theoretical and practical level. The writings of the Jews of Alexandria and so-called African Latin exemplify a long-standing issue.
We invite scholars at any career stage to please submit a 300-word abstract to car@antisigma.classics.utoronto.ca by Friday, August 16 at 11:59pm (EST). Confirmed speakers include Professor Ruth Webb (Lille) and Professor James Porter (Berkeley). We aim to locate funding to support accommodation, meals, and travel for all participants. However, scholars with access to institutional funding will be encouraged to defray some of their expenses from those sources. All should apply regardless of their institutional funding.
We look forward to receiving your proposals, and please be in touch with us if you have any questions about the conference.
With best wishes,
Erik Gunderson, Niek Janssen, Irene Peirano Garrison, and Laura Viidebaum
