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HomeOur PeopleProf. dr. Michael Burke

Prof. dr. Michael Burke

Full Professor of Rhetoric, Head of Arts & Humanities
Michael Burke

Contact details

m.burke@ucr.nl Tel: +31 (0) 118 655 512
Eleanor 2.04

About me

I have been a full Professor of Rhetoric at Utrecht University (in the Faculty of Humanities) since 2013 and UU Honours Dean from 2016 to 2021. I was Chair of the international ‘Poetics and Linguistics Association’ (PALA) from 2010 to 2012 and I am the series editor for the ‘Research Monographs in Linguistics (Rhetoric & Stylistics)’ series with Routledge.

At UCR, I have held leadership positions as Director of Research, Chair of the Board of Examiners and Head of the Academic Core Department.  From 2022 to 2025, I will be Head of the Arts and Humanities department.  My academic background is in English language and literature. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam, where I was also an undergraduate student.

My research is fundamentally pedagogical in nature, focussing on the areas of rhetoric, stylistics, language, literacy, reading, speaking and persuasion. I have written numerous articles, chapters and books on these topics.

At UCR, I teach undergraduate courses on classical rhetoric, argumentation theory, stylistics, comparative rhetoric, public speaking, rhetorical citizenship, language & embodied cognition and persuasion in society. I also supervise Senior Project students who are majoring in the rhetoric track. At Utrecht University, I teach on courses in the graduate honours programme. These are modules on interdisciplinary research and on leadership. I also supervise and co-supervise PhD students within the UiL-OTS linguistics research school in the Faculty of Humanities.

When working with my undergraduate students at UCR, I seek to be authentic, courageous, challenging and supportive. My pedagogical focus is on “empowering students – and especially socially disadvantaged students – to flourish”. This I do via the soft, yet authoritative, skills of sound critical thinking and clear effective speaking and writing.

Ancillary activities

  • Series Editor: Routledge Research Monographs in Linguistics: Rhetoric and Stylistics (unremunerated)
  • Editorial Board Member Language and Literature (Sage) – (unremunerated)
  • Editorial Board Member The Journal of Literary Semantics (De Gruyter) – (unremunerated)

Visiting research positions

  • 2024 – Visiting Researcher at the University of Uppsala
  • 2022 – Visiting Professor at the University of Bologna
  • 2021 – Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge (Faculty of Education)
  • 2013 – Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow

Publications

2024

  • Vlah, A., Wijnia, L., Lutz, C, Burke, M. & Loyens, S.M.M., Can Video Lectures on Enthymemes Improve Adult Learner’s Critical Thinking and Clickbait Detection Skills? Education Sciences 2024, 14(12), 1284; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14121284  

2023

  • Burke, M. (2023) ‘Worlding the Brain Through the Cultural Practice of Rhetorical Memoria’, in Worlding the Brain: Neurocentrism, Cognition and the Challenge of the Arts and Humanities, in S. Besser and F. Lysen (eds.) Leiden: Brill, pp.19-30.
  • Burke, M. ed. (2023) The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics, 2nd edition, Routledge, London & New York.
  • Burke, M. (2023) ‘Introduction Stylistics: From Classical Rhetoric to Cognitive Neuroscience’, in The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics, M. Burke (ed.) 2nd edition, Routledge, London & New York, pp.1-8.
  • Burke, M. (2023) ‘Rhetoric and Poetics: The Classical Heritage of Stylistics’, in The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics, M. Burke (ed.) 2nd edition, Routledge, London & New York, pp.11-31
  • Burke, M & Evers, K. (2023) ‘Formalist Stylistics’, in The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics, M. Burke (ed.) 2nd edition, Routledge, London & New York, pp.32-45
  • Vlah, A. & Burke, M. (2023). Teaching the enthymeme: On becoming a critical-rhetorical consumer of verbal and visual arguments. In D. Tomić, J. Vlašić Duić, & E. Pletikos Olof (Eds.), Rhetorical Research and Didactics: RHEFINE. Rhetoric for innovative education. Centre for Applied Rhetoric. University of Warsaw, Poland, pp. 37-55.
  • Tian, Y., Fialho, O., Liu, S., & Burke, M. (2023). Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Effects of Foregrounded Multimodal and Narrative Features. Scientific Study of Literature, 12(1), 1–16.

2022

  • Bon, E. V. and Burke, M. (2022) ‘Devices, Settings and Distractions: A Study into How Students Read Literature’, in  Pedagogical Stylistics in the 21st Century, eds. S. Zyngier and G. Watson. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 183-206
  • Sterk, F. M., Van Goch, M. M., Burke, M., & Van der Tuin, I. (2022). Baseline assessment in writing research: A case study of popularization discourse in first-year undergraduate students. Journal of Writing Research. Retrieved from https://www.jowr.org/pkp/ojs/index.php/jowr/article/view/856
  • Burke, M. (2022) Undergraduate Research in the Netherlands, in The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research. Eds. Mieg, H.A; Ambos, E; Brew, A; Lehmann. J and Galli, D. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 616-622.
  • Burke, M. and Coats, K. (2022) ‘Stylistics and Children’s Literature’, Language and Literature, 31/1, pp.3-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/09639470211072153
  • Burke, M. (2022) ‘Language and Style in The Gruffalo’, Language and Literature, 31/1, pp. 41-61. https://doi.org/10.1177/09639470211072162
  • Klomberg, B., Schilhab, T.S. and Burke, M. (2022) Picturing Fiction through Embodied Cognition: Drawn Representations and Viewpoint in Literary Texts. New York, Routledge.

2021

  • Gaillard, S. Oláh, Z.A. Venmans, S. and Burke, M. (2021) ‘Countering the Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Underpinnings Behind Susceptibility to Fake News: A Review of Current Literature With Special Focus on the Role of Age and Digital Literacy. Frontiers in Communication, 6:661801. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.661801
  • Burke, M. (2021) ‘Of Paper and Pixels: Reading in Flux’, in Speaking the Past: Heritage, Discourse and Publishing in the Digital Age. eds. H. Hochscheid and P. Schultz. Fargo, ND: Theran Press, pp. 47-60.

2018

  • Kuzmičová, A., Schilhab, T., & Burke, M. (2018). m-Reading: fiction reading from mobile phones. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. DOI: 10.1177/1354856518770987. [IF 0.950]
  • Hochscheid, H. and Burke, M. (2018) “Spaartaanse Rede: Gorgo in 300”. in Vertrouw Mij!: Manipulaties van Imago (eds. de Jong, J., van Marion, O and Rademaker, A.  Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 181-184.
  • Heesch, M. and Burke, M. (2018) “Spreekbuis of slachtofffer van IS?” in Vertrouw Mij!: Manipulaties van Imago (eds. de Jong, J., van Marion, O and Rademaker, A.  Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 89-92.

2017

  • Burke, M and Troscianko, E. T. eds. (2017) Cognitive Literary Science: Dialogues Between Literature and Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Burke. M. ed. in 4 vols. (2017) Stylistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. London: Routledge.
  • Burke, M. (2017) Stylistics: The Linguistic Analysis of Style in Literary Texts. In M. Burke, ed. Stylistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. London: Routledge, pp. 1-15.
  • Burke, M. & Bon, E. V. (2017). The Locations and Means of Literary Reading. In Expressive Minds and Artistic Creations: Studies in Cognitive Poetics. S. Csabi (ed.) Oxford & New York, Oxford University Press. pp. 205-232.
  • Troscianko, E. T. & Burke M. (2017). A window on to the landscape of cognitive literary science. In M. Burke and E. T. Troscianko, Cognitive Literary Science:Dialogues Between Literature and Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 1-13.

2016

  • Burke, M., Kuzmičová, A., Mangen, A. and Schilhab, T. (2016). Empathy at the confluence of neuroscience and empirical literary studies. Scientific Study of Literature 6/1, pp. 6-41
  • Hartung, F., Burke, M., Hagoort, P. & Willems R. M. (2016) Taking Perspective: Personal Pronouns Affect Experiential Aspects of Literary Reading. PLoS ONE 11(5): e0154732. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154732
  • Burke. M. (2016) Discourse Implicature, Quintilian and the Lucidity Principle:  Rhetorical Phenomena in Pragmatics. Topics in Linguistics, 17(1), pp. 1-16.
  • van den Hoven, E, Hartung, F, Burke, M and Willems, R M (2016) Individual Differences in Sensitivity to Style During Literary Reading: Insights from Eye-Tracking. Collabra, 2(1): p. 25 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/collabra.39
  • Burke, M. (2016) The oceanic literary reading mind: An impression, in Memory in the Twenty-First Century: New Critical Perspectives from the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences, ed. S. Groes. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 119-124.
  • Fialho, O, Zyngier, S, and Burke, M. (2016) Empirical approaches to the study of literature in learning environments: An overview. In M. Burke, O. Fialho and S. Zyngier Scientific Approaches to Literature in Learning Environments.Amsterdam: John Benjamins Press. pp. 1-16
  • Burke, M. Fialho, O. and Zyngier S. eds. (2016) Scientific Approaches to Literature in Learning Environments. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Press.

2015

  • Burke, M. (2015) ‘Literary linguistics’, in Exploring Language and Linguistics, eds. N. Braber, L. Cummings and L. Morrish, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 431-460.
  • Hochscheid, H. K. and Burke, M. (2015) ‘Retorisch lijden: Het geval Laocoön’, in Beïnvloeden met emoties. Pathos en retorica. Eds J. de Jong, C. Pieper en A. Rademaker. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 234-238
  • Burke, M. (2015) ‘Unpacking and evaluating properties in conceptual metaphor domain mapping: Cognitive stylistics as a language learning tool’. In Literature and Language Learning in the EFL Classroom, eds M. Teranishi, Y. Saito and K. Wales. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.75-93.
  • Burke, M. (2015) ‘The neuroaesthetics of prose fiction: Pitfalls, parameters and prospects’, Front. Hum. Neurosci., 03 August 2015| http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00442

2014

  • Burke, M. ed. (2014). The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics. London: Routledge
  • Burke, M. (2014) ‘Stylistics: From Classical Rhetoric to Cognitive Neuroscience’, in M. Burke, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics. London: Routledge, pp. 1-7.
  • Burke, M. (2014), ‘Rhetoric and Poetics: The Classical Heritage of Stylistics’, in M. Burke, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics. London: Routledge, pp. 11-30.
  • Burke, M. and Evers, K., (2014). ‘Formalist Stylistics’, in M. Burke, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics. London: Routledge, pp. 31-44.

2013

  • Burke. M and Troscianko, E. T. (2013). ‘Explorations in Cognitive Literary Science’. Special Issue. Journal of Literary Semantics. 42/2.
  • Burke, M and Troscianko, E. T., (2013). ‘Mind, Brain, and literature: A Dialogue on What the Humanities Might Offer the Cognitive Sciences’. Journal of Literary Semantics, 42/2, pp. 141-148.
  • Burke, M., (2013). ‘The Rhetorical Neuroscience of Style: On the Primacy of Style Elements during Literary Discourse Processing’. Journal of Literary Semantics, 42/2, pp. 199-216.
  • Burke, M., (2013). Rhetorical Pedagogy: Shaping an Intellectually Critical Citizenry. Utrecht: Labor Grafimedia BV. (Published Inaugural Address,  January 23, 2013 – Utrecht University)

2012

  • Burke, M., et. al. eds. (2012). Pedagogical Stylistics: Current Trends in Language, Literature and ELT. London: Continuum Press.
  • Burke, M., (2012) ‘Systemic Stylistics: An Integrative, Rhetorical Method of Teaching and Learning in the Stylistics Classroom’. In M. Burke et. al eds. Pedagogical Stylistics: Current Trends in Language, Literature and ELT.: Continuum Press.
  • Burke, M., (2012). ‘Teaching Stylistics: An Overview’. In M. Burke et. al, eds. Pedagogical Stylistics: Current trends in language, literature and ELT. Continuum Press.
  • Burke, M. (2012). ‘Isocrates in Middelburg: An encomium on the pedagogical legacy of Hans Adriaansens’. In H. Tak and B. Oomen, De Disciplines Voorbij. Middelburg: Roosevelt Academy, pp. 85-88.

2011

  • Burke, M., (2011) Literary Reading, Cognition and Emotion: An Exploration of the Oceanic Mind. New York: Routledge.

2010

  • Burke, M., (2010). ‘Cognitive Stylistics: History, Development and Current Applications’. Journal of Foreign Languages. Vol. 33/1, pp. 40-46.
  • Burke, M., (2010). ‘Rhetoric and Persuasion’. In P Hogan, ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 715-717.
  • Burke, M. (2010). ‘Issues in Pedagogical Stylistics’. Special Issue Language and Literature, 19/1
  • Burke, M. (2010). ‘Why care about Pedagogical Stylistics?’ Language and Literature. 19/1, pp 7-11.
  • Burke, M. (2010). ‘Rhetorical Pedagogy: Teaching Students how to write a Stylistics Paper’. Language and Literature. 19/1, pp 77-92.

2009

  • Burke, M. (2009). ‘Stylistics’. In K. Malmkjaer. Ed. The Routledge Linguistics Encyclopaedia. London: Routledge, pp. 526-532.

2008

  • Burke, M. (2008). ‘Advertising Aristotle: A Preliminary Investigation into the Contemporary Relevance of Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric’. Foundations of Science, Springer, 13/3, pp. 295-305.
  • Burke, M. (2008). ‘How Cognition Can Augment Stylistic Analysis’. The European Journal of English Studies. Vol. 9.2, pp.185-96. Reprinted in Recent Developments in Western Stylistics. 2008 Ed. Dan Shen. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Foreign Languages Education Press.

2007

  • Burke, M. (2007) ‘Progress is a Comfortable Disease: Cognition in a Stylistic Analysis of e.e.cummings’. In M. Lambrou and P. Stockwell, eds. Contemporary Stylistics. London: Continuum, 2007, pp. 144-155.

2006

  • Burke, M. (2006) ‘Cognitive Stylistics’. In K. Brown, (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics. (2nd edn.). Amsterdam, Elsevier, pp. 218-221.
  • Burke, M., (2006). ‘Emotion in Stylistics’. In K. Brown, (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics. (2nd edn.), Amsterdam, Elsevier, pp. 127-129.

2005

  • Burke, M. (2005) ‘How Cognition Can Augment Stylistic Analysis’. The European Journal of English Studies, Vol. 9.2, pp.185-96.

2004

  • Burke, M., (2004) ‘Cognitive Stylistics in the Classroom: A Pedagogical Account’, Style (39):1, pp. 491-510.

2003

  • Burke, M., (2003) ‘Literature as Parable’. In J. Gavins and G. Streen, eds. Cognitive Poetics in Practice. London: Routledge, pp. 115-128.
  • Burke, M. (2003). ‘Beyond Pure Reason: The Role of Emotion in Language and Cognition’. Belgian Journal of Language and Literature, vol. 1, pp. 31-40.

2002

  • Burke, M., (2002). ‘The Emotive Challenge to Cognitive Poetics’, in S Csábi and J, Zerkowitz, eds. Textual Secrets: The Message of the Medium (The proceedings of the 21st PALA Conference, April 12-15 2001), Budapest: Eötvös Loránd University Press, pp.189-195.
  • Burke, M. and J, Goggin, eds. (2002). Meaning, Frame and Metaphor: Travelling Concepts II. Amsterdam: ASCA Press,
  • Burke, M., (2002). ‘Mind, Mood and Metaphor’, in M. Burke and J. Goggin, eds. Meaning, Frame and Metaphor: Travelling Concepts II. Amsterdam: ASCA Press, 2002, pp. 391-409.

2001

  • Burke, M., (2001). ‘Visual text and affectivity’. In J. Goggin and S, Neef, eds. Travelling Concepts I. Amsterdam: ASCA Press, 2001, pp. 78-87.
  • Burke, M. (2001). ‘Iconicity and Literary Emotion’. European Journal of English Studies, Vol 1, pp. 31-46.
  • Burke, M. (2001). ‘A Cognitive and Emotive Reappraisal of Conflicting Views on Literariness’, in I.  Biermann and A. Combrink eds. Poetics, Linguistics and History: Discourses of War and Conflict, Potchefstroom, S.A.: University of Potchefstroom Press.

2000

  • Burke, M. (2000). ‘Distant Voices: The Dynamism of Yeats’ Dialogic Verse’. In T. Bex, M. Burke and P. Stockwell, eds. Contextualised Stylistics. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, pp. 85-102.
  • Bex, T., Burke. M. and Stockwell, P. eds. (2000). Contextualised Stylistics. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi.