Visual Rhetorics of Communist Romania

Visual Rhetorics of Communist Romania: Life under the Totalitarian Gaze offers personal accounts and theoretical insight into the Cold War era when little information about life beyond the Iron Curtain could transpire to the West. Adriana Cordali develops a unique visual rhetorical theory for analyzing communist totalitarian propaganda and the resistance to it, and reveals the deliberate, strategic in/visibilities the rhetoric of power engaged in. Building upon the local history, ideology, and politics of the regime imposed after WWII, she identifies propaganda's rhetorical features, visual tropes, and symbols and examines striking photographs and print materials from Ceaüescu's regime (1966-1989) and the time of regime change (1989-1990), as well as an award-winning Romanian film that depicts women's life at the time. Converging visual rhetoric and culture with history and politics, Visual Rhetorics of Communist Romania is a first book of this kind and will interest readers of rhetoric and communication, visual rhetoric, and political discourse in the region. Adriana Cordali is an independent scholar, professor, technical writer for federal agencies, and article editor for academic publishers. She has a Graduate Diploma in International Studies (Johns Hopkins University) and a PhD in Rhetoric (Illinois State University), served as Chair of the Romanian Forum of the Modern Language Association (MLA) (2016-17), has published works in visual rhetoric, cultural studies, and post/communism, and received the 2014 Florence Howe Award for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship in English from the Women's Caucus of the MLA. "Cordali provides an elegant analysis of totalitarianism's rhetorical tools in Communist Romania (1945-1989). Both an auto-ethnography and a visual rhetorical treat, the book foregrounds the lived experiences of the "decreelings," born following the anti-abortion Decree 770 of 1966, when women were ordered by the Romanian Communist Party to reproduce."

-Dr. Elena Gabor, Bradley University, USA

"Cordali offers a rare first-hand exploration of how totalitarian power worked, and was resisted, through visual means in communist Romania."

-Dr. Cezar Ornatowski, San Diego State University, USA

Auteur

Adriana Cordali is an independent scholar, professor, technical writer for federal agencies, and article editor for academic publishers. She has a Graduate Diploma in International Studies (Johns Hopkins University) and a PhD in Rhetoric (Illinois State University), served as Chair of the Romanian Forum of the Modern Language Association (MLA) (2016-17), has published works in visual rhetoric, cultural studies, and post/communism, and received the 2014 Florence Howe Award for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship in English from the Women's Caucus of the MLA.