David Blakesley
Professor of Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design; Campbell Chair in Technical Communication
Contact
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Office: 616 Strode
Phone: (765)-409-2649
Email: dblakes@clemson.edu
Education
PhD Rhetoric, Linguistics, and Literature, University of Southern California (1990); MA English, San Diego State University (1986); BA English, San Diego State University (1983)
Courses
Histories of Rhetoric, RCID Studio I and II, Rhetoric of Cinema, Technical Writing, Kenneth Burke and Rhetorical Theory
Research Interests
rhetorical theory, history of rhetoric, digital and visual rhetorics, print and digital publishing, innovation and entrepreneurship, film theory and production, book design, technical communication, computers and writing, digital humanities.
David Blakesley is the Robert S. Campbell Chair in Technical Communication and Professor of Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design at Clemson University, as well as a Fellow of the Rhetoric Society of America. He served as interim director of Clemson’s large PhD in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design from 2022 to 2025 and as president of Clemson’s Faculty Senate in 2023. He founded Parlor Press in 2002 and serves as its Publisher and CEO. He writes about visual and digital rhetorics, the publishing industry, Kenneth Burke, rhetoric, and film. In 2021, he began his term as President of the Kenneth Burke Society. Before joining Clemson, he served as the WPA for Purdue University’s Professional Writing Program for ten years and, before Purdue, as Director of Writing Studies at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
He has authored, coauthored or edited thirteen books, including The Elements of Dramatism, The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film, and Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age. His articles have appeared in WPA: Writing Program Administration, JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory, enculturation, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Composition Studies, The Writing Instructor, First Monday, Kairos, and numerous other journals and anthologies. He founded the Rhetorical Philosophy and Theory series with SIU Press and currently serves as editor of KB Journal and The Writing Instructor.
His most recent books are coauthored or coedited with Jimmy Butts (The Sophist’s Cookbook, 2026) and Cheryl Glenn and Richard Enos (Shaping Rhetorical Studies, 2026). His documentary film, The Wordman, will premiere in 2027, as will his book with Steven B. Katz, Elaborate Cosmos.
Awards
Fellow, Rhetoric Society of America; George Yoos Distinguished Service Award (RSA); Charles Moran Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field of Computers and Composition
Selected Professional Works
Books (Published)
Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age, Second Edition. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage/Wadsworth, 2011. Print.
Late Poems, 1968-1993 by Kenneth Burke (Coeditor, with Julie Whitaker). Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2005.
The Elements of Dramatism. Boston: Longman, 2002.
Books (In Production or Under Contract)
The Sophist’s Cookbook (with Jimmy Butts). Parlor Press, 2027.
Illuminating Rhetoric: A Guide to Seeing, Reading, and Writing. McGraw-Hill; under contract.
Books (Edited)
Shaping Rhetorical Studies: The Research of RSA Fellows, with Commentary, Edited by Cheryl Glenn, Richard Leo Enos, and David Blakesley. Parlor Press, 2026.
Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2021, (Co-Editor). Anderson: Parlor Press, 2023
Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2020, (Co-Editor). Anderson: Parlor Press, 2021
Reinventing Rhetoric Scholarship: Fifty Years of the Rhetoric Society of America, (Co-Editor). Anderson: Parlor Press, 2020.
Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2019, (Co-Editor). Anderson: Parlor Press, 2019
Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2018, (Co-Editor). Anderson: Parlor Press, 2019
Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2019, (Co-Editor). Anderson: Parlor Press, 2018
Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2015-2016 (Co-Editor). Anderson: Parlor Press, 2017.
Late Poems 1968–1993: Attitudinizings Verse-wise, While Fending for One's Selph, and in a Style Somewhat Artificially Colloquial by Kenneth Burke. Ed. Julie Whitaker and David Blakesley. University of South Carolina Press. November, 2005.
The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film. (Editor). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003, 2007.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters (Published)
“Emergent Cultures of Scholarly Publishing, the Scholarship of Publishing, and the Lingering Hegemony of Print: The Case of The WAC Clearinghouse.” Building Bigger Tables: Honoring and Extending the Contributions of Mike Palmquist. Edited by Ann Blakeslee and Heather M. Falconer. The WAC Clearinghouse 2027.
“Elaborate Rhetorics.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Vol. 5. Edited by Trace Daniels-Lerberg, Dana Lynn Driscoll, Mary K. Stewart, and Matthew Vetter. Writing Spaces.org, 2023. https://writingspaces.org/elaborate-rhetorics/
“Illuminating Kenneth Burke, Engaging Publics.” In the Classsroom with Kenneth Burke. Edited by Ann George and M. Elizabeth Weiser. Parlor Press, 2023, pp. 73–103.
“The Residual Concepts of Production v. the Emergent Cultures of Distribution in Publishing.” TUGboat, vol. 43, no.3, 2022, pp. 232–239. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47397/tb/43-3/tb135blakesley-production
"Listen for a While, Then Put in Your O(a)r." Explanation Points: Publishing in Rhetoric and Composition. Ed. Danielle Nicole DeVoss and John Gallagher. Utah State University Press, 2019. PP. 174–177.
"Composing the Un/Real Future." Computers and Composition. Special Issue. Edited by Jason Tham, Megan McGrath, Ann Hill Duin, and Joseph Moses" (Sept. 2018). 8–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2018.07.005
“Kenneth Burke’s FBI Files” (with Todd Deam). KB Journal 13.1 (Fall 2017). https://kbjournal.org/fbifiles
“Terministic Screens.” The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods. Ed. Mike Allen. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2017.
“The Future of Digital Publishing, Circa 2003.” Blog Carnival 10. Sweetland Digital Rhetoric Collaborative. 2 Dec. 2016. https://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2016/12/02/future-digital-publishing-circa2003/
“New Realities for Scholarly Presses in Trying Economic Times.” Composition Studies 42.1 (Spring 2014): 97-102.
“Get Agrippa: A Comment on Chris Miles’s "Occult Retraction.’” (With Joshua Gunn, Morgan Reitmeyer, and William A. Covino). Rhetoric Society Quarterly 39.4 (October 2009): 380-87.
“Open Access Book Publishing in Writing Studies: A Case Study.” (With Charles Bazerman, Mike Palmquist, and David Russell). First Monday. 13.1 (7 January 2008). https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2088/1920
A Burkeian Reading of White Noise.” Approaches to Teaching DeLillo’s White Noise. Ed. John Duvall and Tim Engles. New York: Modern Language Association, 2006. 169–79.
“Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcock’s Vertigo.” Defining Visual Rhetorics. Ed. Marguerite Helmers and Charles Hill. Erlbaum. February, 2004. 111–33.
“Directed Self-Placement in the University.” Directed Self-Placement: Principles and Practices. Ed. Daniel Royer and Roger Gilles. Hampton Press. 2003. 31–47.
“Southern Illinois University Carbondale as an Institutional Model: The English 100/101 Stretch and Directed Self-Placement Program” (with Erin Harvey and Erica Reynolds). In Directed Self-Placement: Principles and Practices. Ed. Daniel Royer and Roger Gilles. Hampton Press. 2003. 207–41.
"Sophistry, Magic, and the Vilifying Rhetoric of The Usual Suspects." The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film, ed. by David Blakesley. Southern Illinois University Press, 2003. 234–245.
“Kenneth Burke’s Pragmatism-Old and New.” Kenneth Burke and the 21st Century. Ed. Bernard Brock. SUNY Press, November 1998.
"Neopragmatism." Theorizing Composition: A Critical Sourcebook of Theory and Scholarship in Contemporary Composition Studies. Ed. Mary Lynch Kennedy. Greenwood Press, 1998.
"Eviscerating David Cronenberg." enculturation 2.1 (1998). Hypertext Essay. Available https://enculturation.net/2_1/blakesley/. (Reviewed in Film-Philosophy, May 1999)
“Reconceptualizing Grammar as an Aspect of Rhetorical Invention.” The Place of Grammar in Writing Instruction. Ed. Susan Hunter and Ray Wallace. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1995. 191–203.
“He/Man and the Masters of Discourse.” Gender Issues in the Teaching of English. Ed. Nancy McCracken and Bruce Appleby. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1992. 23–38.
Edited Journals
Editor, KB Journal (https://kbjournal.org). Journal of the Kenneth Burke Society. 2014–present.
Co-Editor, WAC Journal. Hosted at Clemson. 2011–present.
General Editor and Publisher (with Dawn Formo), The Writing Instructor. https://www.writinginstructor.org (2001–present).
Reviews & Interviews
Rhetoric Society of America Oral History Initiative: Interview with David Blakesley (2019).
“The Wrench in the Gears: How Independent Academic Presses Can Disrupt the Publishing Model.” Interviewed by Brian Gaines. Blog Carnival 10. Sweetland Digital Rhetoric Collaborative. 28 Nov. 2016.
"An Interview with Mark C. Taylor." (With Thomas Rickert.) JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory 24.4 (2004): 805–819.
Digital Works, Videos, CDs & DVDs, Software (Published)
Computers and Writing 2010 Drupal Site: http://www.digitalparlor.org/cw2010
Digital Publishing F5 | Refreshed. With Kate Agena, Christopher Berry, Jennie Blankert, Chris Eklund, Serkan Gorkemli, Jingfang Ren, Bob Stein, Karl Stolley, and Rita Wu. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2003. ISBN: 1–932559–00–0.
Conference Presentations (Delivered)
“Teaching the Rhetorics of Film: The Case of Absent Now the Dead.” Rhetoric Society of America, Baltimore, MD, 28 May 2022.
“Festschrift in Honor of RSA Founder Dr. Janice Lauer Rice.” Rhetoric Society of America, Baltimore, MD, 28 May 2022.
“The Value of (Burkean) Theory in an Age of Activism.” 11th Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society, Zoom, 25 June 2021.
“Publishing Books in WAC/WID.” Book Series Editors Roundtable, International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference, 5 August 2021. Colorado State University. Virtual.
“The Complicated Legacies of Open Access Publishing.” Information, Medium & Society: Nineteenth International Conference on Publishing Studies, Universidad Complutense, University of Madrid, July 2021. (Virtual)
“The Commonplaces of Book Publishing.” Panel Title: “Publishing (as) Commonplaces: Editing, Revising, Circulating,” Video: https://vimeo.com/547947983. Conference on College Composition and Communication, Virtual, 10 April 2021
“Academic Entrepreneurs v. Entrepreneurial Academics,” Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, Pittsburgh, PA, 12 March 2019
“Nervously Loquacious at the Edge of an Abyss,” The RSA Fellows Remember: 50 Years in Retrospect, the Last 25 Years, Rhetoric Society of America, Minneapolis, MN, 1 June 2018.
“Augmenting (Rhetorics and) Realities: Developing for the Microsoft Hololens.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Portland, OR, 16 March 2017.
“Identifying (Killing) Pluto. Rhetoric Society of America. Atlanta, GA 25 May 2016.
“Taking Action on Intellectual Property with Open Educational Resources. Conference on College Composition and Communication. Houston, TX, 7 April 2016.
“Making and Sharing Knowledge: Multiple Channels of Publication.” Featured Session. Conference on College Composition and Communication. Tampa, Fl, 21 March 2015
“Wearable Computers, Wearable Composing.” Chair and Founder, Special Interest Group, Conference on College Composition and Communication. Tampa, Fl, 19 March 2015.
“Publishing To Be Read.” Carolina Rhetoric Conference. Clemson, SC, 7 February 2015.
“Elaborate Identifications: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film.” Presidential Dream Course and Lecture, University of Oklahoma, 3 April 2014.
“Publisher/Designer: Making Augmented Books." Rhetoric Society of America, San Antonio, Texas, 23 May 2014.
“Augmented (Reality) Books and Their Implications for Technical Communication.” Association for Teachers of Technical Writing Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, 19 March 2014.
“Creativity and Digital Literacy for the 21st Century: The Adobe Clemson Partnership.” Featured Speaker. EDUCAUSE: Adobe Executive Education Roundtable, Orlando, FL, 29 Sept. 2014
“Multi-Touch, Interactive, Augmented Books and Their Challenges for Authors and Publishers.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, Georgia, 10 Nov. 2013.
“Toward a New Rhetoric (of Motives: Burke, Perelman, and the Analysis of the Present.” Rhetoric as Equipment for Living: Kenneth Burke, Culture, and Education Conference, University of Ghent, Belgium, 5 May 2013.
[Keynote] “Social Reading and Publishing Platforms” Research Network Forum, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Las Vegas, Nevada, 13 March 2013.
“Twelve Viewers Viewing,” Featured Session, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Las Vegas, Nevada, 16 March 2013.
“Easy EPUB Ebooks with InDesign.” With Charles Lowe and Jim Kalmbach. Half-day workshop. Computers and Writing 2012. North Carolina State University. Raleigh, North Carolina, 17 May 2012.
“The Beginning of Books?” Invited Keynote. Digital Platforms and the Future of Books. University of Florida Digital Assembly Symposium. Gainesville, Florida, 20-21 Jan. 2012.
“Natural User Interfaces and the Rhetoric of Identification.” Computers and Writing 2012. North Carolina State University. Raleigh, North Carolina, 17 May 2012.
“Meet the Press: Conversations with Book Publishers.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). Atlanta, Georgia, 5 November 2011.
“The Future(s) of Computers and Writing (Town Hall). Moderator and presenter.” Computers and Writing 2011, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, 21 May 2011)
“Writing in Motion: The Futures of the Digital Scholarly Press,” Computers and Writing 2011, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, 21 May 2011)
“The Challenges of Innovation in Academic Culture.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. CCCC (Atlanta, GA, 8 April 2011).
“DIY Publishing and Design in Composition: Blurb, MagCloud, Wix.” Cengage Learning “Viva Composition” Conference. Las Vegas, NV. November, 2010.
“Emergent Printing and Publishing Technologies in the Digital Age: A Publisher’s Perspective.” Electronic Imaging Conference. San Jose, CA. Jan. 2010.
Invited Lecture. “The Future of the Book for Scholars in the Humanities.” Texas Christian University. Fort Worth, TX. October, 2010.
Keynote Address. “Illuminating Visual Rhetoric and the Semiotics of Identification.” Rhetoric of the Visible. Venice, Italy. April, 2010.
Keynote Address. "Visual Rhetoric in the Digital Age." Texas Two-Year College Association. San Antonio, TX. January, 2010.
“The Democratization of Production and Its Implications for Publishing in Composition.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Louisville, KY. March, 2010.
“Meet the Press: Conversations with Book Publishers.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). Atlanta, Georgia, 6 November 2010.
Grants
Clemson-Adobe Partnership. Major gift from Adobe for Campus-Wide Creative Cloud, Adobe Digital Studio, Training Support, and Enterprise-Level Development, $11,000,000 USD. (With Jan Holmevik, Jim Bottum, and others.) 2014.
