Christian Erik J Kock

Short presentation

Christian Kock is Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Copenhagen. He has done research on political argumentation and debate, the history of rhetoric, rhetorical citizenship, credibility, journalism, literary studies, aesthetics, linguistics and writing pedagogy. Han initiated the Academic Writing Center af the University of Copenhagen, has been a Visiting Professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, and is author, editor, co-author or co-editor of c. 20 books in rhetoric, linguistics, argumentation, journalism, political debate, and literature, as well as numerous articles for scholarly as well general audiences. He is frequently used as a commentator on rhetoric and political debate in the media. He has chaired or served on various committees under the Ministry of Education and the Minsistry of Culture. His main non-academic interest is music; he has played in, chaired or served on the board of various ensembles and organizations in classical music.

Career:

• Teaching assistant in English, Danish and German at the University of Copenhagen 1969-1974
• Freelance journalist and writer 1971-1980
• Research scholar, English, 1974-1975
• Assistant Professor, English Language and Literature, 1975-1979
• Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, 1979-1987
• Associate Professor, Rhetoric, 1986-1997
• Visiting Professor, English and American literature, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1986-1987
• Director, Academic Writing Center, 1992-1996
• Professor, Rhetoric, 1997-
• Primary Investigator, the "Good News" Project, financed by "Dagspressens Fond", 1999-2002
• Director, the research group "Debate Culture", 2011-2017

Publications

Books:

•     Tjekkisk strukturalisme (1971).
•     Litteraturoplevelse (1974)
•     The Theory of Presupposition Failure (with Peter Harder) (1976)
•     Engelsk verslære (1980)
•     Litteraturlæsning (with Carsten Elbro) (1984)
•     Skriv kreativt (with Birthe Tandrup) (1989)
•     Retorik der flytter stemmer (with Charlotte Jørgensen and Lone Rørbech) (1994)
•     Professionel litteraturlæsning (1996)
•     Skrivehåndbogen (with Eva Heltberg) (1997)
•     Forstå verden: Politisk journalistik for fremtiden (2002)
•     Den gode opgave (co-author) (2005)
•     Skriv i alle genrer (with Birthe Tandrup) (2006)
•     Retorik poetik (2008)
•     De svarer ikke: Fordummende uskikke i politisk debat (2011, new ed. 2013)
•     Rhetorical Citizenship and Public Deliberation (with Lisa Villadsen) (2012)
•     Ordets magt: Retorisk teori der holder (2012)
•     Retorisk praksis (2013)
•     Contemporary Rhetorical Citizenship (with Lisa Villadsen) (2014)
•     De lytter ikke: Politikernes udenomssnak - spot den, stop den (with Magnus Boding Hansen) (2015)
•     Rhetorical Deliberation: Arguing about Doing (2017)

Articles:

C. 200 articles for scholarly and general audiences on rhetoric, argumentation, rhetorical citizenship, political rhetoric and debate, written composition, literary theory, linguistics, music, aesthetics.

Awards:

• ”Undervisningsmiddelprisen” (”Teaching Materials Award”) for Skrivehåndbogen, 1998
• Stipend, "Einar Hansens Forskningsfond”, 2006
• Det Humanistiske Fakultets formidlingspris, 2015
• ”KOM-prisen”, 2017

Primary fields of research

Rhetorical theory, The history of rhetoric, Aesthetics, Literary theory, Argumentation, Political debate, Rhetorical citizenship

Current research

Publilc debate in Denmark, Deliberative democracy, Rhetorical citizenship, Argumemntation theory, Aesthetic experience

Knowledge of languages

Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, English, German, French, Latin, Old Greek, Czech

Teaching

Has taught argumentation, argumentation theory, rhetorical citizenship, publilc debate, the history of rhetoric, rhetorical theory and analysis, rhetorical didactics, written communication, aesthetic theory and analysis. Has supervised PhD and MA projects in all these areas as well as in journalism and forensic argumentation.