Interconnectivity: Global Rhetorics and Power Transformation

All rhetorics function within the dynamics of power. Hua Zhu proposes interconnectivity as a frame of power transformation. Western understandings of power relations as oppositional and essentialist result in the systematic production of the Other—a structure that is reproduced in the West/non-West hierarchy. Interconnectivity as a new conceptual framework, on the other hand, conceives of any dyadic relationship as “relating-yet-separating” and as a resource for interdependence. It fosters a new discursive order where there is no center to imagine from, but subjects of all kinds can coexist and coevolve. To theorize how this discursive order takes place, Zhu examines the enactment of interconnectivity in different sites, from ancient China to global contact zones and to contemporary writing classrooms. She concretizes how one can act, think, and become to subvert othering and to bring forth a living environment where interlocutors can become interdependent.