Hegemony and globalism: Kenneth Burke and paradoxes of representation

Kenneth Burke's concern for the processes of identification underlying rhetorical action can play an important role in mediating tensions between globalism and community interests. Looking to imagination's potential for bridging gaps between individuals and groups offers to combine certain of Burke's key insights with recent theoretical work on hegemony. Bringing Burke into conversation with articulation theory provides conceptual tools for holding social orders open for rearticulation, and for rearticulating the democratic imaginary. This conversation stresses the need to translate universal concerns into particular contexts, which remains a contentious process requiring imagination.