Visual Rhetorics of Communist Romania

Adriana Cordali Gradea 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.

Part I: Visual Rhetorics of Communist Romania: Life Under the Totalitarian Gaze.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Living in the Totalitarian World.- Part II: Visual Rhetorics of Power: The Communist Gaze.- 3. Communist Propaganda: Imagery, Propaganda, and Rhetorical Grounding.- 4. Visual Rhetorical Analyses of Propaganda in LateCommunist Romania.- Part III: Visual Rhetorics of Resistance: A Silver Lining.- 5. Asserting a Presence: Rhetorics in Time of the 1989 Revolution and Early Post-Communism.- Part IV: Bridging the Past and Present in Post/Communism.- 6. Returning the Gaze: The Visual Rhetorics of Resistance.- 7. Back to the Future?

"Visual Rhetorics of Communist Romania: Life Under the Totalitarian Gaze, Adriana Cordali builds on the works of scholars who have previously discussed the rhetoric of totalitarianregimes ... . Cordali's personal experience and educational background on the visual rhetoric of communist Romania lends a unique perspective and analysis of an underrepresented topic in rhetoric and composition. ... Cordali broaches two difficult concepts-Romania's communist regime and visual rhetoric-she manages to write an incredibly accessible book for laypersons and academics alike." (Christene d'Anca, Rhetoric Review, December 14, 2023)