The Rhetoric and Argumentation Research Group (RETORAR), registered on the Research Groups platform of the National Research Council (CNPq/Brazil), was created in 2014, with an interdisciplinary character by professors from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Helcira Maria Rodrigues de Lima, from the Faculty of Arts (FALE), and Maria Cecília de Miranda Nogueira Coelho, from the Department of Philosophy.

The objectives of the group members are:

1. Study and disseminate texts, as well as bring together and train researchers in the areas of history of rhetoric, history of argumentation, discourse analysis, in addition to verifying their characterization in philosophical, legal, political, artistic, religious, literary and scientific discourses;
2. Organize monthly meetings: Rhetoric and Argumentation Journeys, with researchers from UFMG and also from other institutions in Brazil and abroad, who may be in Belo Horizonte, to publicize and debate their research;
3. Organize the seminars Docere, Delectare et Movere, biennial events for the discussion of classic texts in the history of rhetoric and their reception (see the specific item for seminars that have already been held);
4. Co-organize national and international events in partnership with the Brazilian Rhetoric Society (SBR) and other organizations such as ANPOF (National Association of Postgraduate Studies in Philosophy) and ANPOLL GTs (Research Groups of the National Association of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Literature and Linguistics);
5. Co-organize and promote extension activities (hybrid) such as rhetoric and argumentation courses aimed at public school teachers in Belo Horizonte and undergraduate students.

The leading professors of the research group have worked not only within the scope of UFMG, but also nationally and internationally, in Rhetoric and related areas. Due to the history of activity of the leading teachers of the RETORAR group, it has a close connection with the Brazilian Society of Rhetoric (SBR), in very productive partnerships in the promotion and dissemination of studies in Rhetoric, Argumentation, among others. 

Helcira Maria Rodrigues de Lima was President of the Brazilian Society of Rhetoric (SBR), from 2017 to 2018, member of the Fiscal Council of SBR (2011-2014), member of the Deliberative-Consultative Council of SBR (2019-2024), vice-coordinator of the "Argumentation" GT at ANPOLL.

Maria Cecília de Miranda Nogueira Coelho was President of the Brazilian Society of Rhetoric (SBR), from 2010 to 2012, President of the Latin American Rhetoric Association, from 2015 to 2018 and served in the International Society for the History of Rhetoric (ISHR), of which she has been a member since 2005, as a part of the Program Committee (which evaluates all communication proposals for international congresses), at the 2016 (Tübingen) and 2023 (Vancouver) congresses. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the International Society for the History of Jesuit Rhetoric (ISHJR).

Finally, our thanks to Camila Carvalho (designer and PhD student in Literature at FALE/UFMG, creator of the SBR logo and several pages for RETORAR), for creating the website's image based on the photography by Renato Lopes, who we would also like to thank, as well as Caio Assunção (undergraduate student in Philosophy/UFMG) for organizing the website. The famous and controversial (when it was created) Glória Walkway, in Diamantina/MG (a construction that is being restored), establishes the connection between two buildings from different periods, which was one of the reasons for our choice to symbolize the RETORAR Group, as it brings together two different areas of research, but whose dialogue is fundamental to understanding both.

 

Helcira Lima

and

Maria Cecilia Coelho.