7th Biennial Philosophy of Communication Conference: May 27-29, 2026

Registration fee includes coffee all day, reception (hors d'oeuvre and wine), lunches and Friday breakfast buffet.
Faculty: $150
Graduate student: $75
Duquesne undergraduate: $0

Registration is now available.

The Center for the Study of Rhetoric, Race, and Religion is pleased to partner with the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies and the Communication Ethics Institute at Duquesne University for the 7th Biennial Philosophy of Communication Conference. The Biennial Philosophy of Communication Conference has a tradition of examining the intersection of philosophy and communication. The conference welcomes a wide variety of perspectives, intellectual traditions, and research methods. The conference's history has prioritized phenomenological, existential, rhetorical, semiotic, and ethical approaches to communication. The theme of this year’s conference is Rhetoric, Race, and Religion. The conference theme is a call to reflect on race and religion in the current moment.

Philosophy and Communication Virtual Pre-Conference

Relive PhilComm's Best Moments of 2026

Photo Coverage

* Photo credit: Kochav Koren, Gary Hughes, Yaroub Al Obaidi and Erik Garrett. 

Except for Thursday May 27’s late afternoon sessions, all events take place in College Hall (COLH) on Duquesne University’s campus (campus map). The address of Duquesne’s College Hall is 1100 Locust St, Pittsburgh, PA  15282.  The address for August Wilson House is 1727 Bedford Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

If you are parking at Duquesne University, use Duquesne University Forbes Avenue Parking Garage, located at 1180 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

9:30 - 10:30 a.m. Arrive/Register COLH 341

College Hall (COLH) room 341 will be the registration, and break room.  You can pick up name tags, coffee, and lunches there.
All talks will take place in College Hall room 104 and 105

10:30 - 11 a.m. Welcome COLH 104

• Dean Kris Blair, Duquesne University
• Janie Harden Fritz, Duquesne University
• Erik Garrett, Duquesne University
• Fr Lazarus Langbiir, Duquesne University

11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Panel 1 Grigsby Rhetoric, Race and Religion Class Panel COLH 104

Chair: Victor Grigsby, Duquesne University

• Rodney Lyde, Duquesne University, This Is My Story This is My Song: Entitling in Black Discourse about Race
• Darius Branche, Duquesne University, Exclusion and the Community: Race, Christianity, and the Hope of the Transcendental
• Jackie Lyde, Duquesne University, Kamala Harris DNC Speech: The Rhetoric of Dreams Deferred
• Richard Wingfield, Duquesne University, Lift Every Voice and Sing: Hymnody, Hope, and the Rhetorical Construction of Black Fait

 

12:15 – 1:15 p.m. Lunch – The Incline first floor of the Student Union, behind the elevators (pick up your voucher in COLH 341)

1:15 – 2:15 p.m. Panel 2 Aesthetics, Religion, Icons, and Indigenous Stories COLH 104

Chair: Rodney Lyde, Duquesne University

• Rodney Lyde, Duquesne University, The Message: Rhetorical Witnessing and the Disclosure of Lived Experience in Hip-Hop – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
• Erik Garrett, Duquesne University, I Can’t Live Without My Radio: The Boom box as Emancipatory Technology – LL Cool J
• Jackie Lyde, Duquesne University, U.N.I.T.Y.: Intra-Community Rhetoric, Gender, and Ethical Correction in Hip-Hop – Queen Latifah
• Victor Grigsby, Duquesne University, D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune): Authenticity, Aesthetic Judgment, and Intra-Community Regulation in Hip-Hop – Jay Z
• Theon Hill, Wheaton College, The Heart Part 5- Kendrick Lamar, Visual Polyrhythms, and the Possibility of Hope – Kendrick Lamar

 

2:30 – 2:45 p.m. Hip-Hop as Counterpublic Communication: Rhetorical Modes and the Disclosure of Lived Experience COLH 104

Chair: Erik Garrett, Duquesne University

Sarah DeIuliis, Duquesne University, The Pop Art Aesthetic: Visual Rhetoric and Religion in Warhol’s Silkscreens
Natalia Tapsak, Duquesne University, I and Thou in Iconographic Dialogue: Iconic Vision as 
Self-Transformation
Linda Coleman, Duquesne University, Native American Rhetoric: Telling their Story

 

Panel 3b Food, Rhetoric and Identity COLH 105

Chair: Yaroub Al Obaidi, Duquesne University

• Andrew Connolly, Duquesne University, Gas Station Sushi and Reheated Pizza: Myth, Narrative, and the white Identity in America
• Gary Hughes, Duquesne University, The Rhetoric of Food: Cultural Embodiment and Identity
• Yaroub Al Obaidi, Duquesne University, The Rhetoric of Food Absence from the Table
• Anthony Luchini, The Meals of Our Lives: What A Good Meal and The Teaching of Writing Have in Common

4 - 5 p.m. Panel 4 COLH 104

Chair:   Janie Harden Fritz, Duquesne University  COLH 104

Keynote Dr. Andre E. Johnson (University of Memphis) 

“Creating Democracy: The Rhetorical Ethics of the Colored Convention Movement”

9-9:30 a.m. Arrive / Registration COLH 341

9:30 – 10:45 a.m. Panel 5 Rhetoric and Current Politics COLH 104

Chair:   Janie Harden Fritz, Duquesne University

• Seth Wilden-Patel, Thayer University, Strip Mining “God Memories”: Extractive Epideictic, Racial Nostalgia, and the Rhetorical Career of J.D. Vance
• Mridula Mascarenhas, California State University, Monterey Bay, A Christian Attempt to Liberalize Texas Politics: The Religious-Political Rhetoric of James Talarico

11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Panel 6 Textual Readings on Rhetoric, Race or Religion COLH 104

Chair:   Fr Lazarus Langbiir, Duquesne University

• Fr Dominic Maximilian Ofori, University of Ghana, Peace as Communicative Praxis: A Hermeneutic of Faith Reading of Pope Leo XIV’s African Discourse
• Diana Nogay, Old Dominion University, A Heritage and a Future: A Rhetorical Analysis of Mordecai Johnson's Howard University Inauguration Address
• Angela Rehbein, West Liberty University, ‘I am black, but O! my soul is white’: William Blake’s ‘The Little Black Boy,’ the Rhetoric of Race, and Eighteenth-Century Evangelicalism”

12:15-1:15 p.m. Box Lunch Pick up in COLH 341                                                                     

 

1:15 – 2:30 p.m. Panel 7a Media Ecological Intersections with Rhetoric, Race and Religion COLH 104

Chair: Ryan McCullough, West Liberty University

• Ryan McCullough, West Liberty University, The Media Ecology Canon: A Reckoning with Whiteness
• Erik Garrett, Duquesne University, Media Ecology, Whiteness, and the Problem with Tribalization
• Austin Hestdalen, Purdue University, Northwest, Faith in Technology: The Rhetoric of Salvation in Smart Cities and Urban Discourse
• Tiffany Alana Petricini, Penn State University, Erie, Algorithmic Mediation and the Rhetoric of Race: Communication Ethics in Predictive Environments
• Khadijah Pettus, Duquesne University/Bethany College, Holler if you Hear Me: Consciousness in a Mediated World
• Brent Malin, University of Pittsburgh, What is French to ChatGPT (and John Searle)?: Generative AI and the Question of Identity

Panel 7b Radical and Insurrectionist Rhetoric COLH 105

Chair: Rodney Lyde, Duquesne University

• Derek Handley, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Radical Black Pittsburgh: Bethel AME and the Church as a Political Laboratory
• Darius Branche, Duquesne University, Burke and Cesaire: Poetics, and the Dialectics of Antithetical Movement
• Samuel Edogbanya, Duquesne University, A Case for Bishop Henry McNeal Turner's Call for the Back-to-Africa Movement

2:45 – 3:45 p.m. Panel 8a Religion and Mediation COLH 104

Chair:   Janie Harden Fritz, Duquesne University

• Richard Talbert, Heidelberg University, Terminal Digimodernism: AI Jesus and Digital Necromancy
• Hanna Chumachenko Lassowsky, Duquesne University, Icons of "The Great Russian Literature” and Virtual Realities of Russian Misinformation Campaigns: A Phenomenological Approach

Panel 8b Rhetoric, Race, Religion and Witnessing COLH 105

Chair:   Sarah DeIuliis, Duquesne University

• Andri Kosasih, Duquesne University, Testimony and racial Visibility: The Ethics and Instability of Witnessing
• Richard Thames, Duquesne University, Witnessing as a Student Newspaper Writer the Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike and Martin Luther King Jr’s Assassination

Break: Reconvene at August Wilson House, 1727 Bedford Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

4:30 - 5 p.m. Panel 9 – Tour and Welcome: August Wilson House

Chair: Erik Garrett, Duquesne University

• William Generett Jr. J.D., Senior Vice President Civic Engagement and External Relations, Duquesne University
• Denise Turner, J.D. August Wilson House Executive Director, University of Pittsburgh

5 - 6 p.m. Panel 10 – Heritage, Legacy and the Black Sacred: Rhetoric, Race and Religion in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle

Chair: Erik Garrett, Duquesne University

• William Baker, Duquesne University, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and the Phenomenology of Black Religion
• Victor Grigsby, Duquesne University, Striking the Chord: Communicating the Legacy of the Past, the Rhetorical Hauntings of the Present and the Religious Grounding of the Future in August Wilson’s Piano Lesson
• Jackie Lyde, Duquesne University, Beyond the Physical Fence: Communication as Emotional Barrier in August Wilson’s Fences
• Rodney Lyde, Duquesne University, Radio Golf: A Shout-Out to the Black Middle Class as Rhetorical Address

6 - 7 p.m. Panel 11 

Chair: Erik Garrett, Duquesne University

Keynote Dr. Theon Hill (Wheaton College)

“August Wilson and the Rhetoric of Exodus”

7 - 9 p.m. Reception at the August Wilson House

9:30 – 9:45 a.m. Arrive/Registration COLH 341

Concurrent Panels

9:45 – 11:00 a.m. Panel 12a Afrocentric and Afro-Semiotic Perspectives  COLH 104

Chair:  Victor Grigsby, Duquesne University

• Samuel Edogbanya, Duquesne University, African Representation: An Exploration towards Afro-Semioticd
• Atira B. E. Pressley, Regent University, From Transmission to Reception: Morrison’s Theological Ethics of Hearing and Communication
• Vera Smith Pacheco, University of Colorado, The Rhetoric of Guilt: Scapegoating and Feminist Transgression in Costa Rica

 

11:15 – 12:15 p.m. Panel 13 

Keynote Dr. Tahirah Walker (Point Park University)

“Rhetorical Intersectionality”

Chair:   Victor Grigsby, Duquesne University

• Atira B. E. Pressley, Regent University, From Transmission to Reception: Morrison’s Theological Ethics of Hearing and Communication
• Vera Smith Pacheco, University of Colorado, The Rhetoric of Guilt: Scapegoating and Feminist Transgression in Costa Rica
   

12:15 – 1:15 p.m. Lunch, The Incline first floor of the Student Union, behind the elevators (pick up your voucher in COLH 341) COLH 341   

1:15 – 2:30 p.m. Panel 14a Communication Ethics Rhetoric, Race and Religion COLH 104

Chair:   Rodney Lyde, Duquesne University

• Janie Harden Fritz, Duquesne University, Rhetoric, Race, and Religion: A Communication Ethics Perspective
• Andri Kosasih, Duquesne University, Civil Religion and Racialized Public Reason: The Hidden Theology of Communication
• Joshua Ewalt, Northern Michigan University, Navigating the Anticipations of Life in Common: Form, Potentiality, and Communication Ethics

Panel 14b Fanon, Rhetoric and Technology COLH 105

Chair:   Erik Garrett, Duquesne University

Toward a Fanonian Analysis of Digital Groups’ Interaction: Qualichat and Inclusive Rhetoric

• Kochav Koren, Duquesne University
• Icaro Veira, Independent Researcher

2:30 – 2:45 p.m. Closing COLH 104

Special Thank You

• A special thank you to Ms. Kimberly DaSilva and Kochav Koren for your work on the conference.
• As well as a thank you for financial support from Dean Kris Blair and the McAnulty College of Liberal Arts, an internal NEH grant, as well as William Generett, Vice President of Civic Engagement and External Relations.
• A thank you to the August Wilson House for hosting us on Thursday night.
• The faculty planning committee includes Drs. Garnet Butchart, Janie Harden Fritz, Erik Garrett, Victor Grigsby, Andre E. Johnson and Annette Madlock.

 

* Errata

1. Remove Tom Duncanson, Green Citizen Diplomacy Project, Notes on Indigenous Knowledge in Belém and Beyond: Epistemic Transition in Gutierrez, Díaz, and Brondizio from panel 2a Rhetoric and Indigenous Knowledge Wednesday, May 27
2. Remove Nicole (“Nikki”) Lemire-Garlic, Thomas Jefferson University, Beyond Perlocutions: Nommo, Muntu, and Speaking Things into Existence from panel 12a  Afrocentric and Afro-Semiotic Perspectives Friday, May 29
3. Concurrent panel 2a and 2b combined into one panel:  
1:15 – 2:15  Panel 2 Aesthetics, Religion, Icons, and Indigenous Stories COLH 104

Chair:   Erik Garrett, Duquesne University

Sarah DeIuliis, Duquesne University, The Pop Art Aesthetic: Visual Rhetoric and Religion in Warhol’s Silkscreens
Natalia Tapsak, Duquesne University, I and Thou in Iconographic Dialogue: Iconic Vision as  Self-Transformation
Linda Coleman, Duquesne University, Native American Rhetoric: Telling their Story
4. Concurrent panel 12a and 12b combined into one panel:

9:45 – 11:00  Panel 12 Afrocentrism and Feminism in Rhetoric, Race, and Religion COLH 104

Chair: Victor Grigsby, Duquesne University

Samuel Edogbanya, Duquesne University, African Representation: An Exploration towards Afro-Semiotics
Atira B. E. Pressley, Regent University, From Transmission to Reception: Morrison’s Theological Ethics of Hearing and Communication
Vera Smith Pacheco, University of Colorado, The Rhetoric of Guilt: Scapegoating and Feminist Transgression in Costa Rica

Pittsburgh International Airport has direct international flights from London, UK and easy connecting flights via major US cities. The airport is 18 miles, approximately 20 minutes, to Duquesne University. 

A ride sharing service such as Uber is the fastest way to get from the airport to Duquesne University. Hail a ride with your smartphone app and meet your driver outside Baggage Claim Door #4 at the Arrivals Curb.

If you plan to use public transportation, the Port Authority bus 28X Airport Flyer stops downtown at Liberty Avenue at Wood Street. It will take approximately 15 minutes to walk to campus from there.

Please review our Duquesne University Campus Map to find your way to the Power Center Ballroom, where the conference will take place.

Parking is available at Duquesne's Forbes Garage, 1180 Forbes Avenue, for $20/day. After you have parked, walk to the Skywalk from the 8th floor of the elevator to the Power Center, crossing over Forbes Avenue below. Off campus parking is also available.

Nearest walkable (10-15 minutes)

Marriott City Center
112 Washington Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 471-4000
View reduced rate rooms

Cambria Hotel
1320 Centre Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 381-6687

Double Tree by Hilton
One Bigelow Sq, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 281-5800

Also walkable

Omni William Penn
530 William Penn Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 281-7100

Embassy Suites
535 Smithfield St, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
(412) 338-2200

Hilton Garden Inn
250 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.
(412) 683-2040  

Kimpton Hotel Monaco
620 William Penn Pl, Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 471-1170

Summer Parking Schedule

Starts April 29, 2026 - Ends August 23, 2026.

General Parking Rules

• Daily parkers may park in the Forbes/Locust garage.
• Only Permit holders may park overnight.
• Only Permit holders may park in a surface space.
• No Overnight parking is enforced between 2am-5am.

Daily Parking Rates
Monday–Friday (5 a.m. – 5 p.m.)

• 0–2 Hours: $10
• 2–12 Hours: $14
• 12–24 Hours: $20

Evening and Weekend (5 p.m. – 2 a.m.)

•  Flat Rate: $6

Event Rate

• Event Rate: $10-$50

Located in the heart of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, Duquesne University is a vibrant, private institution known for its commitment to academic excellence and social justice. Duquesne University is home to the Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center, a hub for phenomenological research and scholarship, with extensive collections including the archives of prominent phenomenologists.