Indexical Antenarratives as Invitational Rhetoric

Abstract

The traditional role of rhetoric is to convince. Invitational rhetoric, on the other hand, invites dialogue and stories for collective sensemaking. We suggest that because antenarratives are admittedly partial and heteroglossic, they may offer a way to extend such an invitation. Further, we depict a particular kind of antenarrative—indexical, merely pointing out something that one perceives to be out of place—as one whose simplicity leaves ample room for others to contribute to the story.