Patricia Dunmire

Professor Dunmire received her M. A. and Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1989 and 1996, respectively. 

Since she joined the faculty at Kent State University in 1995, Professor Dunmire has focused on the nature and function of language practices. As a researcher in the Center for Research in Workplace Literacy (CRWL), she studied the linguistic interactions between a nurse practitioner and her patients, with specific attention to how she discursively managed the temporal constraints of those interactions. More recently, she has turned her attention to the deliberative character of political discourse. Specifically, she is interested in the ways the future is represented in political discourse and the ideological and material implications of those representations. 

Professor Dunmire’s teaching at the undergraduate level includes Argumentative Prose and various Senior Seminars and Special Topics courses that focus on the political dimensions of rhetoric and discourse (e.g., Rhetoric and Social Change, Propaganda). Her teaching in the Rhetoric and Composition graduate major (“LRSP”) includes Discourse Analysis, Linguistics for Rhetoricians, and The Rhetorical Nature and Function of Extended Discourse.

Books  

•  The Great Nation of Futurity: The Discourse and Temporality of American National Identity.  Oxford University Press. (April, 2023)
• Projecting the Future through Political Discourse:  The Case of the Bush Doctrine.  Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing, May 2011 (R) [Reviewed by D. Terry in The Internet Journal of Language, Culture, and Society 34 (2012): 80-82.

Articles & Book Chapters  

• "Political Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis." Handbook of Political Discourse P. Cap (ed.). Elgar Publishing. March, 2023.
• "'America's Most Precious Resource': The Future in American National Identity and Foreign Policy" Special anniversary issue of Futures on "Framing Futures" (Summer 2019).
• "Discourse and Security." Handbook on Communication and Security (eds. Bryan Taylor and Hamilton Bean; Routledge ( Summer 2019) (I,R).
• "Democratic Peace as Global Errand: American's post-Cold War Jeremiad." Journal of Language and Politics 16 (2): 176-194. (April 2017) (R)
• "Privatized Propaganda and Broadcast News: Legitimizing the Presidential 'Call-to-Arms' Discourse" for M.J. Braun and G.L. Henderson's (eds.) Propaganda & Rhetoric in Democracy: History, Theory, Analysis (181-201). Southern Illinois Press (with J. Oddo; Fall 2016) (R)
• "The Future is One of Rising Stakes': Representing Self and Other in Post-Cold War National Security Discourse." Ideological Battlegrounds - Constructions of Us and Them Before and After 9/11. Eds. A. Gonerko-Frej & M. Sokol. New Castle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, (2016) (I, R)
• "Beyond Space and Time: Temporal and Geographical Configurations in U.S. National Security Discourse." Invited for a special issue of Critical Discourse Studies on Time, Space and Evaluation in Ideological Discourse. Guest editors: L. Filardo-Llamas, B. Kaal, C. Hart, & M. Kopytowska (published on-line March 16, 2015) (I,R):
• "American Ways of Organizing the World': Designing the Global Future through U.S. National Security Strategy." Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies. Eds. Christopher Hart and Piotr Cap's Continuum Publishing (November 2014): 321-347. (I,R)
• “Political Discourse Analysis: Exploring the Language of Politics and the Politics of Language” Review article of Political Discourse Analysis for the Sociolinguistics section of the Language and Linguistics Compass (Wiley Blackwell Publishing). December 2012 (I, R)
• “‘New World Coming’: Narratives of the Future in Post-Cold War National Security Discourse” in Adam Hodge’s (ed.) The Discourse of War and Peace. Oxford University Press. June 2013 (I, R)
• “Knowing and Controlling the Future: A Review of Futurology.”Prose Studies (3): 240-263.  December 2010 (R)
• “‘9/11 Changed Everything’:  An Intertextual Analysis of the Bush Doctrine”.  Discourse & Society 20(2). Spring 2009 (R)
• “The Rhetoric of Temporality: The Future as Linguistic Construct and Rhetorical Resource” In B. Johnstone and C. Eisenhart (eds.)  Rhetoric in Detail. John Benjamins. 2008 (R)
• “‘Emerging Threats’ and ‘Coming Dangers’:  Claiming the Future for Preemptive War”.  In A. Hodges and C. Nilep (eds.) Discourse, War, and Terrorism (p. 19-44).  John Benjamins Press. 2007 (I, R)
• “Preempting the Future: Rhetoric and Ideology of the Future in Political Discourse.” Discourse and Society, 16 (4), Summer 2005; p. 481-513 (R)

Work in Progress

• Article honoring Professor Phil Graham for Special Issue of Critical Discourse Studies Alan Luke (ed) (to be submitted July 2022)
• Article: "The Future of Peace" (to be submitted to Discourse & Society) Fall 2022

Research Areas

• Rhetorical Studies
• Political Discourse
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• Systemic Functional Linguistics
• Future Studies