Opportune Moments: Kairos and civic change
Faculty Department
Communication and New Media
Presentation Type
Powerpoint
Location
Larini Room
Start Date
25-2-2026 3:35 PM
End Date
25-2-2026 3:50 PM
Description (Abstract)
How and when does transformation of an attitude, belief or feeling occur? More to the point, how and when can our hearts and minds be transformed–in and with community–in relation to history and civic life? This is the central idea of kairos.
With the advent of digital technologies allowing us to capture and record more aspects of human life than ever before, perhaps the most pressing question for the study of kairos is ephemerality. Can public address – especially historic instances of public address – be more than a fleeting, one and done experience? And how can these moments that transform hearts and minds be experienced and critically understood? This presentation considers to what extent it is possible to demonstrate and craft conditions for achieving kairos in a digital age.
Keywords
kairos, rhetoric, civic engagement, digital humanities
Related Pillar(s)
Community, Service, Study
Opportune Moments: Kairos and civic change
Larini Room
How and when does transformation of an attitude, belief or feeling occur? More to the point, how and when can our hearts and minds be transformed–in and with community–in relation to history and civic life? This is the central idea of kairos.
With the advent of digital technologies allowing us to capture and record more aspects of human life than ever before, perhaps the most pressing question for the study of kairos is ephemerality. Can public address – especially historic instances of public address – be more than a fleeting, one and done experience? And how can these moments that transform hearts and minds be experienced and critically understood? This presentation considers to what extent it is possible to demonstrate and craft conditions for achieving kairos in a digital age.
Short Biography
Max Renner is an Assistant Professor in the Communication and New Media departments. His research focuses on the relationship between digital technologies and rhetoric in our understandings of place, identity, and civic life. Dr. Renner is a one of the lead researchers for the Virtual Martin Luther King Project which presents audiences with a virtual recreation of a lost Martin Luther King speech; the project has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council for Learned Societies, and Humanities New York. Dr. Renner has also received the Eastern Communication Association's award for research in urban communication.