General Summary: Ryan Neville-Shepard, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas, discusses his article on a speech given by Rand Paul at Howard University and the rhetoric of the new Southern Strategy. Several undergraduate students at UT reflect on Neville-Shepard’s research and the connection between rhetoric and the southern strategy.

Detailed Summary: Neville-Shepard’s academic background and his interests that led to his work on examining conservative politics (00.42-02.19); Neville-Shepard provides context on the speech given by Rand Paul and discusses how the conservative movement and the Republican party has evolved over time (2.20 - 5.20); Neville-Shepard reviews the formation of the Southern Strategy and discusses differences between the old Southern Strategy and the modern Southern Strategy (5.33 - 10.32); Neville-Shepard analyzes the impact the Southern Strategy has on American politics and citizens (10.33- 11.34); Neville-Shepard highlights how the Republican Party shifts their messages in order to cater to conservative voters (11.35- 13.34); Neville-Shepard goes into depth on the three main rhetorical appeals that the new Southern Strategy relies on: post-racial society, neoliberalism, and selective amnesia (13.54 - 16:58); Neville- Shepard examines Rand Paul’s speech further along with how American legislature has created structural harm to people of color from the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse act (16.59 -18.54); Neville- Shepard discusses the coded language and selective amnesia utilized by Rand Paul in his speech (18.55 - 19.33); Neville-Shepard evaluates present-day conservatives, specifically Donald Trump, and how they incorporate appeals from the new Southern Strategy today (19.42 - 21.12); Neville-Shepard emphasizes the ways Republicans rely on the Southern Strategy for votes (21.13 - 22.32); Neville-Shepard’s intentions with analyzing Rand Paul’s speech in relation to the Southern Strategy (22.44 - 24.10); Neville-Shepard discusses an intervention towards helping citizens be able to identify the Southern Strategy being used in politics which involves educating voters on structural racism and its place in politics (24.12 - 26.12).

Scholarly Article Informing this Production: Neville-Shepard, Ryan. “Rand Paul at Howard University and the Rhetoric of the New Southern Strategy.” Western Journal of Communication, vol. 82, no. 1, 2017, pp. 20–39., https://doi.org/10.1080/10570314.2017.1320809.

Credits: This podcast was produced by Matthew Bale, Patrick Domingo, Kamille Serrano, and Jasrit Mondair, with resources and assistance provided by the Digital Writing and Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. It features the voices of Ryan Neville-Shepard, Jasrit Mondair, and Patrick Domingo. Music featured in this podcast, titled “commonGround,” was created by airtone and has been repurposed here under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license 3.0. Additionally, conversation.wav was adapted and incorporated under the Creative Commons 1.0 license.