Rhetorical imaginings and multimodal arguments at the European Green Belt
Juxtaposing nonhuman nature and technology in our collective memory of the Cold War
We analyze the visual, verbal, and material arguments present at the European Green Belt (EGB), a contemporary
conservation project built from the former Iron Curtain. The EGB presents itself as a “living memorial” that fuses together
former warring countries and thus makes an argument for the unity of Europe. To analyze this incredibly diverse and rhetorically
significant project, we put the digital representations of the site and the discourse around the EGB into conversation with
situated, rhetorical criticism performed along the EGB site itself. We analyze the EGB’s different argumentative juxtapositions
regarding history and memory, nonhuman nature and technology, peace and war, memorial and tourism, and preservation and restoration.
Overall, we find that the transformation of the Iron Curtain from divisive border into a European-wide, transboundary biodiversity conservation project
uses transcendence as a key argumentative structure, which has implications for how we understand the human relationship with the
environment, history, and memory
Article outline
- Introduction
- Material argument and the environment
- Nonhuman nature and technology
- Conservation and intervention
- Conclusion
- Note
-
References
References (53)
References
Blair, Carole, Dickinson, Greg, and Brian L. Ott. 2010. “Introduction: Rhetoric/memory/place.” In Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials, ed. by Greg Dickinson, Carole Blair, and Brian Ott, 1–56. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bloomfield, Emma Frances, and Angeline Sangalang. 2014. “Juxtaposition as Visual Argument: Health Rhetoric in Super Size Me and Fat Head
.” Argumentation and Advocacy 501: 141–156. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brummett, Barry. 1981. “Burkean Scapegoating, Mortification, and Transcendence in Presidential Campaign Rhetoric.” Central States Speech Journal 32(4): 254–264. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
BUND. 2017, August 9. Traces of the past along the German Green Belt [PDF file]. BUND. Retrieved from [URL]
Burke, Kenneth. 1966. Language as Symbolic Action. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Burke, Kenneth. 1968. Counter-Statement. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Burke, Kenneth. 1969a. A Grammar of Motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Burke, Kenneth. 1969b. A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Burke, Kenneth. 1970. The Rhetoric of Religion: Studies in Logology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Burke, Kenneth. 1984. Attitudes Toward History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cagle, Lauren E., and Denise Tillery. 2017. “Tweeting the Anthropocene: #400ppm as Networked Event.” In Scientific Communication: Practices, Theories, and Pedagogies, ed. by Han Yu and Kathryn M. Northcut, 131–148. New York, NY: Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Carson, Rachel. [1962] 2002. Silent Spring (40th anniversary ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cronon, William. 1996. “The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong nature.” Environmental History 1(1): 7–28. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Conley, Donovan S., and Lawrence J. Mullen. 2008. “Righting the Commons in Red Rock Canyon.” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 5(2): 180–199. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Davies Boren, Zachary. 2015, June 19. “Germany is turning 62 military bases into wildlife sanctuaries.” Independent. Retrieved from [URL]
DeLuca, Kevin Michael. 1999. “Unruly Arguments: The Body Rhetoric of Earth First!, Act Up and Queer Nation.” Argumentation and Advocacy 361: 9–21. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dunlap, Riley E., and Kent D. Van Liere. 1978. “The ‘New Environmental Paradigm.’” The Journal of Environmental Education 9(4): 10–19. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
EuroNatur, n.d. “Green Belt Europe”. Retrieved from [URL]
EUROPARC Federation (ed). 2010. “Following Nature's Design. Promoting Cross-Border Cooperation in Nature Conservation.” Stuttgart, Germany: Heidehof Stiftung. Retrieved from [URL]
European Commission. 2013, May 5. “Green Infrastructure (GI) – Enhancing Europe’s Natural Capital.” European Commission. Retrieved from [URL]
European Green Belt. 2017a. “Borders Separate. Nature Unites!” European Green Belt. Retrieved from [URL]
European Green Belt. 2017b. “European Green Belt.” European Green Belt. Retrieved from [URL]
European Green Belt. 2017c. “From Deathzone to Lifeline.” European Green Belt. Retrieved from [URL]
European Green Belt. 2017d. “Iron Curtain.” European Green Belt. Retrieved from [URL]
European Green Belt. 2017e. “Route of the Green Belt.” European Green Belt. Retrieved from [URL]
European Green Belt. 2017f. “Backbone of Diversity.” European Green Belt. Retrieved from [URL]
Foss, Sonja K. 1984. “Women Priests in the Episcopal Church: A Cluster Analysis of Establishment Rhetoric.” Religious Communication Today 71: 1–11.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Geidezes, L. & Kreutz, M. 2004. Green Belt Europe – Nature knows no boundaries. From Iron Curtain to Europe’s lifeline Urbani izziv, 15(2), 135–138. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gilbert, Michael A. 1994. “Multi-Modal Argumentation.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences 24(2): 159–177. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Groarke, Leo. 2015. “Going Multimodal: What is a Mode of Arguing and Why Does it Matter?” Argumentation 29(2): 133–155. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Groarke, Leo, Palczewski, Catherine H., and David Godden “Navigating the Visual Turn in Argument.” Argumentation and Advocacy 521: 217–235. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Iron Curtain Trail. 2014, August 27. “Iron Curtain Becomes 7,000-Kilometer Bike Trail.” Iron Curtain Trail. Retrieved from [URL]
Jamieson, Kathleen H. 1980. “The Metaphoric Cluster in the Rhetoric of Pope Paul VI and Edmund G. Brown, Jr.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 66(1): 51–72. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kentigern Siewers, Alfred (eds.). 2014. Re-Imagining Nature: Environmental Humanities and Ecosemiotics. Lanham, MD: Bucknell University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kjeldsen, Jens E. 2015a. “The Rhetoric of Thick Representation: How Pictures Render the Importance and Strength of an Argument Salient.” Argumentation 29(2): 197–215. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kjeldsen, Jens E. 2015b. “The Study of Visual and Multimodal Argumentation.” Argumentation 29(2): 115–132. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McGeough, Ryan E., Catherine H. Palczewski, and Randall A. Lake. 2015. “Oppositional Memory Practices: U.S. Memorial Spaces as Arguments over Public Memory.” Argumentation and Advocacy 511: 231–254. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Milstein, Tema. 2011. “Nature Identification: The Power of Pointing and Naming.” Environmental Communication 51: 3–24. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Olson, Kathryn M. and G. Thomas Goodnight. 1994. Entanglements of Consumption; Cruelty, Privacy, and Fashion: The Social Controversy over Fur. The Quarterly Journal of Speech 80(3): 249–276. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pasvik Inari Trilateral Park. 2007. Pasvik-Inari: Nature and History Shared [PDF file]. Oulu, Finland: Kalevaprint. Retrieved from [URL]
Perelman, Chaim, and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. [1969] 1971. The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pinto, Robert C. 2001. Argument, inference and dialectic: Collected Papers on Informal Logic. Dordrecht: Kluwer. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Plumwood, Val. 1993. Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. New York, NY: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Point Alpha Foundation. n.d.a.. “The Point Alpha Memorial.” Point Alpha Foundation. Retrieved from [URL]
Point Alpha Foundation. n.d.b.. “Path of Hope (‘Weg der Hoffnug’).” Point Alpha Foundation. Retrieved from [URL]
Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania. n.d.. “Balkan Green Belt.” PPNEA. Retrieved from [URL]
Rickards, Lauren A. 2015. “Metaphor and the Anthropocene: Presenting Humans as a Geological Force.” Geographical Research 53(3): 280–287. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Senda-Cook, Samantha. 2013. “Materializing Tensions: How Maps and Trails Mediate Nature.” Environmental Communication 7(3): 355–371. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sepp, Kalev. 2011. The Estonian Green Belt. Tallinn: The Estonian University of Life Sciences.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sharer, Wendy. 1999. “Disintegrating Bodies of Knowledge: Historical Material and Revisionary Histories of Rhetoric.” In Rhetorical Bodies, ed. by Jack Selzer and Sharon Crowley, 120–142. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wells, Justine, McGreavy, Bridie, Senda-Cook, Samantha, & McHendry, George F. (2018). Introduction: Rhetoric’s ecologies. In Bridie McGreavy, Justine Wells, George F. McHendry, & Samantha Senda-Cook (Eds.), Tracing Rhetoric and Material Life (pp. 1–36). Cham: Springer International Publishing. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Willis, Emma. 2014. Theatricality, Dark Tourism, and Ethical Spectatorship: Absent Others. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zappen, James P. 2009. “Kenneth Burke on Dialectical-Rhetorical Transcendence.” Philosophy & Rhetoric 42(3): 279–301. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Allison, Marcia Clare
2022.
Repurposing the Ruin to Remember: Multimodal Rhetoric and Cultural Memory in the Post–Soviet Memorial Museum.
Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies 22:6
► pp. 576 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.