Hanne Roer

Hanne Roer

Associate Professor

I am the current vice president of The International Society for the History of Rhetoric (2022-2024) and a member/council member of these societies: 

The International Society for the Study of Jesuit Rhetoric

Orbis Terrarum

Martin Andersen Nexø-fonden

www.dansketaler.dk

Nordisk Forening for Retorikkforskning and Societas Latina Daniae.

Research:

I do research in the history of rhetoric, in two fields: the history of Danish rhetoric and the reception of Augustine's rhetorical writings, from 430 to modern rhetoric and contemporary homiletic, with a focus on Jesuit rhetoric. My papers, book chapters and journal articles have for the past years been dedicated to Danish orators and issues (war and pacifist rhetoric, constitution day speeches) as well Augustine’s rhetoric and its impact on later rhetorical writers in the middle ages, the early modern period as well as 18th rhetoricians (such as Dante, Petrarch, Melanchthon, Reggio, Strada, Segneri, Panigarola, Fenelon, Noghera) and modern rhetorical theorists such as Kenneth Burke. 

I have been an associate professor at the section for rhetoric at the Department for Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen since 2004. My Ph.D.-thesis on Dante Alighieri’s theory of language, poetics and rhetoric in 1999 was titled Dante Impositor. On the Origins of Poetry and Language in Dante and the Modistae (2000). Taking the dissertation as my starting point I published the monograph Beatrice i Paradiset: En rejse i Dantes værker. Aarhus Universitetsforlag 2010 (307 pp) on Dante's poetics and rhetoric - the first monograph in Danish on Dante since 1892. I regularly give talks on Dante in and outside of academia; I have translated some of his Latin writings into Danish (De vulgari eloquentia; Letters 5, 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13, 2008 and 2022).

I have partly written and edited (with M. Lund, Aarhus University) a textbook on rhetorical criticism, Retorikkens Aktualitet, that has come out in four editions (2006, 2009, 2014 and 2023, the last with M. Lund and C. Madsen as co-editors). It introduces American rhetorical criticism and offers original close readings of Danish political texts. I co-edited the volume on the Catholic reformation, En anden Reformation, Forlaget Orbis, 2017.

Teaching:

I teach courses in the history of rhetoric, visual rhetoric, argumentation, rhetorical theory and rhetorical criticism. I supervise students in most disciplines of the curriculum.

Conferences:

Since 2005 I have attended the conferences held by The International Society for The History of Rhetoric as well as the Nordic conferences on research in rhetoric (since 1999).  I have been participating in conferences and seminars held by the Nordic network on law, literature and rhetoric and the Bergen School of Law and Literature (2005-2015). In the period 1999-2006 I was part of the Nordic Dante Network, attending the related conferences.

Research visits abroad and languages:

I have stayed in Rome and Pisa for longer periods, working in libraries and archives, and in shorter periods in Paris, Venice, Oxford and Coimbra. I read (and translate from) Greek, Latin, French, Italian, German, English and some Spanish, apart from the Scandinavian languages.

Communication to the public:

I regularly write for popular magazines such as Retorisk Arena (former: Retorikmagasinet), Den store danske (lex.dk), Kommunikationsforum and Sfinx.

I have also curated (with artist Anita V. Nielsen) the art exhibition 00197 Roma (Sophienholm 2015). 

Selected publications

  1. Published

    Augustine’s Christian eloquence.

    Roer, Hanne, 6 Dec 2021, Brill's Companion to the Reception of Ancient Rhetoric. Brill, Vol. 23. p. 588-613

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

  2. Published

    Krigens taler

    Roer, Hanne, Dec 2020, Danske Taler: 20 opbyggelige analyser . Aarhus Universitetsforlag

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Giovambattista Noghera (1719–84): A Jesuit Looking Back at a Great Rhetorical Tradition

    Roer, Hanne, 20 Oct 2020, International Symposium for Jesuit Studies: Boston College, Gasson Hall | June 11–13, 2019. 18 p. (International Symposium on Jesuit Studies 2019, Vol. 5).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

  4. Published

    Den fantastiske retorik! Jesuitten Nogheras forsvar for retorikken – med perspektiv til Vico

    Roer, Hanne, 16 Oct 2019, In: Rhetorica Scandinavica. 23, 2019, 21 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  5. Published

    En anden reformation: Rom som religiøst epicenter

    Carstens, P. (ed.), Nykjær, M. (ed.) & Roer, Hanne (ed.), 6 Dec 2017, København: Forlaget Orbis. 364 p.

    Research output: Book/ReportAnthology

  6. Published

    Reading the negative: Kenneth Burke and Jean-Francois Lyotard on Augustine’s Confessions

    Roer, Hanne, 1 Aug 2015, In: KB Journal. 11, 1, 20 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  7. Published

    Rhetoric

    Roer, Hanne, 2013, The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine. Pollmann, K. (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vol. 3. p. 1650-1657 7 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingEncyclopedia chapterResearchpeer-review

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