Critical rhetorics of controversy

We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the many issues raised in Kendall Phillips's (1999a) essay "A Rhetoric of Controversy" and Thomas Goodnight's (1999) essay/response Mssrs. Dinkins, Rangel and Savage in Colloquy on the African Burial Ground: A Companion Reading." Our interest in "controversy" and "the political," among other issues they raise, leads us to respond to their arguments, to draw some connections to our own work where relevant, and, hopefully, to expand the terms of the conversation between Phillips and Goodnight in order to encourage other scholars interested in these subjects to participate in the discussion.