Intellectual and Conceptual Resources for Visual Rhetoric: A Re-examination of Scholarship Since 1950

This essay articulates a history of visual rhetoric scholarship during the last half century by describing the nomenclature employed by speech and communication researchers for designating germane scholarship, by specifying some landmark moments, and by identifying recurring patterns in the intellectual and conceptual resources. Because the pluralism of definition and emphasis are invaluable for ongoing projects in visual rhetoric, the essay is less concerned with identifying a center that holds visual rhetoric together than focal points for substantive conversations and dialogues to advance current visual rhetoric scholarship. The conclusion suggests some open-ended questions concerning components of one overarching question: How might the study of visual rhetoric be better institutionalized within colleges and universities in the United states?