University Professor David Frank is the winner of the first $10,000 Kohrs-Campbell Prize in Rhetorical Criticism for his work on a book exploring the violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a University news release.
Frank, a Robert D. Clark Honors College professor, co-wrote “Shared Land/Conflicting Identity: Trajectories of Israeli and Palestinian Symbol Use” with Robert Rowland, a professor at the University of Kansas. Both men accepted the first biennial award during a National Communication Association Conference in November in Miami Beach, Fla.
The award, one of the largest awards of its kind in the country, is given through the Michigan State University Press Rhetoric and Public Affairs series.
The book argues that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is more than an issue of land and water in Israel, contending that the conflict is also about symbols and beliefs held by both sides. The book also states that
rhetoric, ideology and myth have played roles in the development of the 100-year conflict.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is usually treated as an issue of land and water,” the Michigan State University Press Web site states. “While these elements are the core of the conflict, they are heavily influenced by the symbols used by both peoples to describe, understand and persuade each other.”
According to the press release, the book grew out of Frank’s work with the Carlton Raymond and Wilberta Ripley Savage Endowment for International Relations and Peace Committee, which awarded him an $80,000 grant to create a program on the conflict.
“The scholars we brought to campus to examine this conflict and the subsequent interest and dialogue within the UO faculty were a precursor to the book,” Frank said in the release.
The cover photos for the book were shot by University geography Professor Alec Murphy.
Frank is author of “Creative Speaking” and co-author of “Debating Values and The Lincoln-Douglas Debate.”
Frank is now working with geography Associate Professor Shaul Cohen to write a book comparing the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Israel.