Sonja K Foss
Biographic Data
| ID | 5596580 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sonja K Foss |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sonja K |
| FAMILY NAME | Foss |
| SIGNATURE | FOSS S K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Colorado Denver |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4055-7634 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 108 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
From research findings to theory: The practice of inductive and experiential theorizing
Many research studies in semiotics and communication make important contributions by describing, interpreting, or explaining particular phenomena. Yet relatively few culminate in the development of a theory that integrates their findings into a broader conceptual framework. As a result, valuable insights often remain tied to the specific context in which they were generated rather than contributing to a more general understanding of the phenomeno…
When Communicative Worlds Collide: Strategies for Negotiating Misalignments in Attentional Social Presence
A significant issue facing communicators in the current multicommunicative environment is securing the attention of potential audience members who are likely to be engrossed in their digital devices. The theory of attentional social presence suggests that communicators secure their attention using one of four types of social presence—budgeted, competitive, entitled, and invitational. In this essay, the theory of attentional social presence is ext…
Sonja K. Foss: Invitational Rhetoric as a Feminist Challenge to the Rhetorical Tradition
In this essay, Sonja K. Foss is interviewed by Helene A. Shugart about invitational rhetoric, a form of rhetoric rooted in feminist principles that challenges the classical rhetorical tradition’s focus on persuasion. She begins by describing key events that led to her interest in both rhetoric and feminism and notes the feminist and rhetorical contexts in which invitational rhetoric developed. She explains the key tenets and assumptions of invita…
Sonja K. Foss: La rhétorique invitationnelle comme défi féministe à la tradition rhétorique
Dans cet essai, Sonja K. Foss est interviewée par Helene A. Shugart sur la rhétorique invitationnelle, une forme de rhétorique ancrée dans les principes féministes qui remet en question la tradition rhétorique classique axée sur la persuasion. Elle décrit les événements clés qui l’ont amenée à s’intéresser à la fois à la rhétorique et au féminisme, et présente les contextes féministes et rhétoriques dans lesquels sa théorie s’est développée. Elle…
Options for the Construction of Attentional Social Presence in a Digitally Enhanced Multicommunicative Environment
Because digital technologies have expanded the potential for individuals to engage in multicommunicating, communicators now face a challenge: They must make themselves present to others in a way that secures the attention of the audience. To address this exigency, we offer a model of attentional social presence that centers on four options for the communicator’s construction of social presence. In budgeted social presence, communicators focus on …
Our Journey to Repowered Feminism: Expanding the Feminist Toolbox
We explore our feminist journey using Bitzer's rhetorical situation. We started with an exigence of oppression, the audience as representatives of the dominant system, the constraints as unequal structural features, and strategies of petition and resistance. We then moved to conceptualizing the exigence as interpretation, the audience as ourselves, the constraints as the capacity to imagine, and the key strategy as deliberate choice. This concept…
Toward a Theory of Agentic Orientation: Rhetoric and Agency in Run Lola Run
Journal Article Toward a Theory of Agentic Orientation: Rhetoric and Agency in Run Lola Run Get access Sonja K. Foss, Sonja K. Foss 1Department of Communication, University of Colorado, Denver, CO 80217-3364 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar William J. C. Waters, William J. C. Waters 2Department of English, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO 64468-6001 Search for other works by this author on…
Transforming Rhetoric Through Feminist Reconstruction: A Response to the Gender Diversity Perspective
In this response to Condit's essay, the tenets of her gender diversity perspective are outlined and addressed. The authors conclude that although Condit's tenets concerning gender are visionary, those concerning rhetoric constitute a defense of a traditional conception of rhetoric, unchanged by gender and feminism. They then outline the tenets of their feminist-reconstructionist perspective, one which focuses on the reconstruction of rhetoric thr…
Re-Sourcement as Emancipation: A Case Study of Ritualized Sewing
Re-sourcement as a rhetorical strategy for emancipation is explored as it occurs through ritualized sewing. Re-sourcement involves creating and living in a world through energy drawn from sources other than patriarchy. It is accomplished in ritualized sewing through rhetorical processes of declaring a commitment, entering into marginal space, cleansing, demarcating boundaries, working magic, returning to the external world, and emblematic display
Beyond persuasion: A proposal for an invitational rhetoric
Most traditional rhetorical theories reflect a patriarchal bias in the positive value they accord to changing and thus dominating others. In this essay, an alternative rhetoric—invitational rhetoric—is proposed, one grounded in the feminist principles of equality, immanent value, and self‐determination. Its purpose is to offer an invitation to understanding, and its communicative modes are the offering of perspectives and the creation of the exte…
The construction of feminine spectatorship in Garrison Keillor's radio monologues
In this essay, the monologues of Garrison Keillor on the radio program, A Prairie Home Companion (later American Radio Company), are analyzed to discover how a feminine spectator is constructed rhetorically in a text. Keillor's monologues, we suggest, create a preferred spectator position that relies on traditionally feminine competencies. This construction is accomplished through Keillor's refusal to privilege vision, dismantling of the male gaz…
Visual imagery as communication
(1992). Visual imagery as communication. Text and Performance Quarterly: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 85-90
Revisioning the Public Speaking Course
What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in Communication Studies
(1988). What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in Communication Studies? Women's Studies in Communication: Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 9-11
A Symposium: The Measurement of Psychological Gender Orientation
A Female Perspective on the Research Process
Additional informationNotes on contributorsSonja K. FossMs. Foss is Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at the University of Denver
Feminism Confront Catholicism: A Study of the Use of Perspective by Incongruity
Equal rights amendment controversy: Two worlds in conflict
The Equal Rights Amendment controversy is studied as a conflict between two world views that are created by the rhetoric generated by proponents and opponents. Descriptions of the settings, actions, characters, and motivations of the opposing worlds reveal little common ground on which traditional argumentation can occur
Beyond persuasion: A proposal for an invitational rhetoric
Most traditional rhetorical theories reflect a patriarchal bias in the positive value they accord to changing and thus dominating others. In this essay, an alternative rhetoric—invitational rhetoric—is proposed, one grounded in the feminist principles of equality, immanent value, and self‐determination. Its purpose is to offer an invitation to understanding, and its communicative modes are the offering of perspectives and the creation of the exte…
What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in Communication Studies
(1988). What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in Communication Studies? Women's Studies in Communication: Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 9-11
Equal rights amendment controversy: Two worlds in conflict
The Equal Rights Amendment controversy is studied as a conflict between two world views that are created by the rhetoric generated by proponents and opponents. Descriptions of the settings, actions, characters, and motivations of the opposing worlds reveal little common ground on which traditional argumentation can occur
Our Journey to Repowered Feminism: Expanding the Feminist Toolbox
We explore our feminist journey using Bitzer's rhetorical situation. We started with an exigence of oppression, the audience as representatives of the dominant system, the constraints as unequal structural features, and strategies of petition and resistance. We then moved to conceptualizing the exigence as interpretation, the audience as ourselves, the constraints as the capacity to imagine, and the key strategy as deliberate choice. This concept…
Toward a Theory of Agentic Orientation: Rhetoric and Agency in Run Lola Run
Journal Article Toward a Theory of Agentic Orientation: Rhetoric and Agency in Run Lola Run Get access Sonja K. Foss, Sonja K. Foss 1Department of Communication, University of Colorado, Denver, CO 80217-3364 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar William J. C. Waters, William J. C. Waters 2Department of English, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO 64468-6001 Search for other works by this author on…
Re-Sourcement as Emancipation: A Case Study of Ritualized Sewing
Re-sourcement as a rhetorical strategy for emancipation is explored as it occurs through ritualized sewing. Re-sourcement involves creating and living in a world through energy drawn from sources other than patriarchy. It is accomplished in ritualized sewing through rhetorical processes of declaring a commitment, entering into marginal space, cleansing, demarcating boundaries, working magic, returning to the external world, and emblematic display
Transforming Rhetoric Through Feminist Reconstruction: A Response to the Gender Diversity Perspective
In this response to Condit's essay, the tenets of her gender diversity perspective are outlined and addressed. The authors conclude that although Condit's tenets concerning gender are visionary, those concerning rhetoric constitute a defense of a traditional conception of rhetoric, unchanged by gender and feminism. They then outline the tenets of their feminist-reconstructionist perspective, one which focuses on the reconstruction of rhetoric thr…
Feminism Confront Catholicism: A Study of the Use of Perspective by Incongruity
Options for the Construction of Attentional Social Presence in a Digitally Enhanced Multicommunicative Environment
Because digital technologies have expanded the potential for individuals to engage in multicommunicating, communicators now face a challenge: They must make themselves present to others in a way that secures the attention of the audience. To address this exigency, we offer a model of attentional social presence that centers on four options for the communicator’s construction of social presence. In budgeted social presence, communicators focus on …
Visual imagery as communication
(1992). Visual imagery as communication. Text and Performance Quarterly: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 85-90
Feminism Confront Catholicism: A Study of the Use of Perspective by Incongruity
Equal rights amendment controversy: Two worlds in conflict
The Equal Rights Amendment controversy is studied as a conflict between two world views that are created by the rhetoric generated by proponents and opponents. Descriptions of the settings, actions, characters, and motivations of the opposing worlds reveal little common ground on which traditional argumentation can occur
A Female Perspective on the Research Process
Additional informationNotes on contributorsSonja K. FossMs. Foss is Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at the University of Denver
A Symposium: The Measurement of Psychological Gender Orientation
What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in Communication Studies
(1988). What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in Communication Studies? Women's Studies in Communication: Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 9-11
Visual imagery as communication
(1992). Visual imagery as communication. Text and Performance Quarterly: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 85-90
Revisioning the Public Speaking Course
The construction of feminine spectatorship in Garrison Keillor's radio monologues
In this essay, the monologues of Garrison Keillor on the radio program, A Prairie Home Companion (later American Radio Company), are analyzed to discover how a feminine spectator is constructed rhetorically in a text. Keillor's monologues, we suggest, create a preferred spectator position that relies on traditionally feminine competencies. This construction is accomplished through Keillor's refusal to privilege vision, dismantling of the male gaz…
Beyond persuasion: A proposal for an invitational rhetoric
Most traditional rhetorical theories reflect a patriarchal bias in the positive value they accord to changing and thus dominating others. In this essay, an alternative rhetoric—invitational rhetoric—is proposed, one grounded in the feminist principles of equality, immanent value, and self‐determination. Its purpose is to offer an invitation to understanding, and its communicative modes are the offering of perspectives and the creation of the exte…
Re-Sourcement as Emancipation: A Case Study of Ritualized Sewing
Re-sourcement as a rhetorical strategy for emancipation is explored as it occurs through ritualized sewing. Re-sourcement involves creating and living in a world through energy drawn from sources other than patriarchy. It is accomplished in ritualized sewing through rhetorical processes of declaring a commitment, entering into marginal space, cleansing, demarcating boundaries, working magic, returning to the external world, and emblematic display
Transforming Rhetoric Through Feminist Reconstruction: A Response to the Gender Diversity Perspective
In this response to Condit's essay, the tenets of her gender diversity perspective are outlined and addressed. The authors conclude that although Condit's tenets concerning gender are visionary, those concerning rhetoric constitute a defense of a traditional conception of rhetoric, unchanged by gender and feminism. They then outline the tenets of their feminist-reconstructionist perspective, one which focuses on the reconstruction of rhetoric thr…
Toward a Theory of Agentic Orientation: Rhetoric and Agency in Run Lola Run
Journal Article Toward a Theory of Agentic Orientation: Rhetoric and Agency in Run Lola Run Get access Sonja K. Foss, Sonja K. Foss 1Department of Communication, University of Colorado, Denver, CO 80217-3364 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar William J. C. Waters, William J. C. Waters 2Department of English, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, MO 64468-6001 Search for other works by this author on…
Our Journey to Repowered Feminism: Expanding the Feminist Toolbox
We explore our feminist journey using Bitzer's rhetorical situation. We started with an exigence of oppression, the audience as representatives of the dominant system, the constraints as unequal structural features, and strategies of petition and resistance. We then moved to conceptualizing the exigence as interpretation, the audience as ourselves, the constraints as the capacity to imagine, and the key strategy as deliberate choice. This concept…
Options for the Construction of Attentional Social Presence in a Digitally Enhanced Multicommunicative Environment
Because digital technologies have expanded the potential for individuals to engage in multicommunicating, communicators now face a challenge: They must make themselves present to others in a way that secures the attention of the audience. To address this exigency, we offer a model of attentional social presence that centers on four options for the communicator’s construction of social presence. In budgeted social presence, communicators focus on …
When Communicative Worlds Collide: Strategies for Negotiating Misalignments in Attentional Social Presence
A significant issue facing communicators in the current multicommunicative environment is securing the attention of potential audience members who are likely to be engrossed in their digital devices. The theory of attentional social presence suggests that communicators secure their attention using one of four types of social presence—budgeted, competitive, entitled, and invitational. In this essay, the theory of attentional social presence is ext…
Sonja K. Foss: Invitational Rhetoric as a Feminist Challenge to the Rhetorical Tradition
In this essay, Sonja K. Foss is interviewed by Helene A. Shugart about invitational rhetoric, a form of rhetoric rooted in feminist principles that challenges the classical rhetorical tradition’s focus on persuasion. She begins by describing key events that led to her interest in both rhetoric and feminism and notes the feminist and rhetorical contexts in which invitational rhetoric developed. She explains the key tenets and assumptions of invita…
Sonja K. Foss: La rhétorique invitationnelle comme défi féministe à la tradition rhétorique
Dans cet essai, Sonja K. Foss est interviewée par Helene A. Shugart sur la rhétorique invitationnelle, une forme de rhétorique ancrée dans les principes féministes qui remet en question la tradition rhétorique classique axée sur la persuasion. Elle décrit les événements clés qui l’ont amenée à s’intéresser à la fois à la rhétorique et au féminisme, et présente les contextes féministes et rhétoriques dans lesquels sa théorie s’est développée. Elle…
From research findings to theory: The practice of inductive and experiential theorizing
Many research studies in semiotics and communication make important contributions by describing, interpreting, or explaining particular phenomena. Yet relatively few culminate in the development of a theory that integrates their findings into a broader conceptual framework. As a result, valuable insights often remain tied to the specific context in which they were generated rather than contributing to a more general understanding of the phenomeno…
Sociology (13 works) · Art (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Linguistics (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Rhetoric (6 works)