Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

In this blog post, I will rhetorically analyze my academic journal, Theatre Research International.

Tim Wils, 2/19/16, via my phone. 

Who Are They?

There are 15 authors that were printed in the most recent issue of Theatre Research International. The authors are Elaine Aston, Rivka Syd Eisner, Jennifer Goodlander, Miguel Escobar Varela, Adele Senior, Anselm Heinrich, Jonas Tinius, Daniela Sacco, William W. Lewis, C. Tova Markenson, Victoria Fortuna, Katherine Kavanagh, Laine Zisman Newman, and Jen Harvie.

These authors are all working professionally, and have published works relating to their topics for many years. Some also work for highly respected institutions or universities, where their opinion is also highly respected as well. All of them are given the length of a full scholarly article where they are able to talk about their research in a variety of different areas in the field of theatre, for example how theatre and feminism intertwine and relate from Elaine Aston.

Audience?

The intended audience is those that have an experience and education in theatre, and those that have opinions on what is currently going on within the theatre world. For example, how the article "Beginners On Stage: Arendt, Natality and the Appearance of Children in Contemporary Performance" focuses on the reactions to contemporary theatre and the difficulties that arise from these issues that are addressed on stage.

However this also links to a secondary audience, as the beginners of theatre. It also has a section for book reviews as well, which give resources and book ideas for those beginning in theatre and that are thirsty for knowledge regarding theatre.

Context

The context of this specific journal entry deals with the controversial topics that have occurred within society, and how the theatrical world is dealing with these problems. For example, the article regarding "Sbeik Thom at the Season of Cambodia Festival: Performing Memory after the Killing Fields in a Post-9/11 New York City"

It deals with the problems that are faced within theatre, especially when contextualized in the real world. The content of the journal tends to focus more on the controversial topics within theatre due to this such as feminism, nudity, and 9/11.

This fits into the main message and purpose of this journal entry, as it goes about trying to explain how these different events not only relate to theatre, but how theatre can help change the perception about each of these ideas. There are a variety of aspects of life that can be addressed through theatre, such as how to deal with tragedy such as events like 9/11 and this journal goes over ways in which theatre has gone about dealing with this and what this means for the society that has dealt with this theatre moving forward.