Elisabeth Hoff-Clausen

My research interests are in rhetorical theory and criticism with a focus on public negotiations of trust and trustworthiness.

I am particularly interested in how discursive negotiations of trust and trustworthiness are conditioned by media platforms, rhetorical genres, cultural and organizational settings, and situational contexts such as crises. My earlier scholarship centred on digital rhetoric and ethos in new media settings, but has, in recent years, come to focus more on crisis rhetoric and negotiations of interpersonal and generalized trust, for instance in accusatory or epideictic rhetoric. I generally seek to contribute to the field of crisis rhetoric with rhetorical criticism that highlights the ethical and emotional issues during crises on both an individual and a societal level.

Currently, I am working on a theoretical and critical exploration of trust, rhetorical agency, and affected bodies in contexts of crisis. I study examples of how trust or distrust is performed in public discourse during crises, such as the covid-19 pandemic, and how this affects the rhetorical constitution of a trustful – or not so trustful – audience/community/citizenry. The larger aim of this project is to work towards a theoretical conceptualisation of trustful rhetoric (or, trust-extending rhetoric), as different from, yet supplemental to the current disciplinary appreciation of trustworthy rhetoric (or, trust-earning rhetoric).

2014- : Associate Professor in the Dep. of Media, Cognition, and Communication, University of Copenhagen

2013-2014: Assistant Professor in the Dep. of Communication, Business, Information & Technology, Roskilde University

2008-2013: Post.doc. at the Center for Corporate Communication, Aarhus University

2008: PhD in digital rhetoric from the University of Copenhagen

2007-2003: PhD-student in the Dep. of Philosophy, Rhetoric and Pedagogy, University of Copenhagen

2001-2003: Communications Consultant, EHC Kommunikation og AKL Kommunikation 

2001: MA in rhetoric from the University of Copenhagen

2000-2001: Communications Consultant, Right Kjaer & Kjerulf

1999-2000: Web Editor, LookSmart

1996-1999: Copy Writer and Concept Developer, Netbureauet

1997: BA in rhetoric and literature from the University of Copenhagen    

Public discourse
Rhetorical theory
Digital rhetoric
Crisis Rhetoric
Organizational rhetoric
Trust and rhetorical agency
Rhetorical Citizenship  

Rhetorical Theory and Analysis
Rhetorical Criticism
Public Speaking    
Digital Rhetoric
Rhetoric in Organizational Practices
Crisis Rhetoric

CV  

2014- : Associate Professor in the Dep. of Media, Cognition, and Communication, University of Copenhagen

2013-2014: Assistant Professor in the Dep. of Communication, Business, Information & Technology, Roskilde University

2008-2013: Post.doc. at the Center for Corporate Communication, Aarhus University

2008: PhD in digital rhetoric from the University of Copenhagen

2007-2003: PhD-student in the Dep. of Philosophy, Rhetoric and Pedagogy, University of Copenhagen

2001-2003: Communications Consultant, EHC Kommunikation og AKL Kommunikation 

2001: MA in rhetoric from the University of Copenhagen

2000-2001: Communications Consultant, Right Kjaer & Kjerulf

1999-2000: Web Editor, LookSmart

1996-1999: Copy Writer and Concept Developer, Netbureauet

1997: BA in rhetoric and literature from the University of Copenhagen