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Revisioning History: A Rhetorical Redesign Of The Charleston Museum, Brittany Minors

All Theses

The Charleston Museum has the distinction of being the oldest museum in the United States, founded in 1773 and still operating today. It was begun as a branch of the Charleston Library Society and soon grew to be a significant institution in Southern and American scientific discovery and research. Over the 225 years of its existence, it has amassed an impressive collection of natural history specimens, as well as rare artifacts of Lowcountry history and culture. Unfortunately, the exhibits have been neglected since their most recent installment (roughly 20 years ago) and are in need of visual and ideological revision. …

Yearbooks As A Genre: A Case Study, Melissa Caudill

All Theses

ABSTRACT
In the United States, high school and college yearbooks are extraordinarily well known as a genre, yet they are largely unstudied. Yearbooks preserve images, stories, and facts from each year for one specific group of people, linked by age and geographic community. Yearbook production is a significant commercial enterprise, yet it involves novice writers, editors, and designers. Blending elements of craft, tradition, business, and media, yearbooks as a distinctive genre bear closer rhetorical study and application of professional communication theories.
This historical case study of production practices for a particular college yearbook positions yearbooks rhetorically as texts and sites …

James Slevin And The Identifying Practices Of Composition., Bruce Horner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Ethiopia Is Now: J. A. Rogers And The Rhetoric Of Black Anticolonialism During The Great Depression, Aric Putnam

Strategic Communication Studies Faculty Publications

The Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 inspired grass roots political activism in black America. To understand how this foreign policy issue became such a pressing domestic concern for black Americans, this essay analyzes an influential interpretation of the crisis, a pamphlet by J. A. Rogers entitled The Real Facts About Ethiopia. I argue that Rogers's text critiques the nature of race under colonialism by illustrating how state boundaries and racial categories are coordinate, strategic operations of colonial power. Second, I demonstrate how the text contrasts this parochial racial context with an alternative framework in which identity can be performed, …

Kissing Ass And Other Performative Acts Of Resistance: Austin, Fanon, And New Orleans Tourism, Lynnell L. Thomas

Lynnell Thomas

“Kissing Ass and other Performative Acts of Resistance: Austin, Fanon, and New Orleans Tourism” examines Frantz Fanon’s “Algeria Unveiled” as a reconceptualization of J. L. Austin’s theory of the performative. Austin, whose examples of the performative all assume an equal, if not harmonious, relationship, overlooks instances of incompatibility and inequality. Fanon’s post-colonial framework, on the other hand, illustrates the markedly different types of intentions, uptake, and conventions which inform the speech act in cases of extreme inequality. In these cases, the powerless and seemingly voiceless use tacitly agreed upon conventions “inappropriately” to attain what they would not be able to …

Redefining What It Means To Be A Republican: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Same-Sex Marriage, David Alexander

All Theses

This thesis examines the same-sex marriage debate within the Republican Party and how the Family Research Council and the Log Cabin Republicans construct their rhetorical arguments using Aristotelian appeals. By defining the debate according to Lloyd Bitzer's rhetorical situation, this thesis considers the rhetorical sustainability of these organizations' claims about same-sex marriage and the implications for the future of the Republican Party.
The United States is witnessing the increasing presence of gays and lesbians in the media and everyday life. The history of homosexuals living their lives behind closed doors is becoming a thing of the past. As a result …

The Impact Of Visual Design On Web Persuasiveness, Megan Nelson

All Theses

Many commentators of web persuasion have suggested that content is the key factor responsible for creating credible (and therefore persuasive) websites. Research in a variety of fields has been devoted to identifying accurate methods of determining a website's trustworthiness in order to help organizations promote credibility and teach users to critically analyze it. By focusing on the credibility of content, however, researchers are promoting an unbalanced perspective of web persuasiveness that privileges textual content over visual design.
This thesis hypothesizes that visual design significantly impacts web persuasiveness. First, exploration of current theories of web persuasiveness reveals the importance of persuasion …

Standardized Power: A Rhetoric Of Performance Evaluation In Education, Michael Hedges

All Theses

South Carolina's public education system administrators and teachers need to know more about how the language used in written performance evaluations impacts the effectiveness of evaluation feedback in order to help improve the state's system for Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching (ADEPT). One key to understanding this knowledge is identifying the characteristics of the language used in evaluation feedback. This study examines the rhetorical situation of written performance evaluations from a theoretical standpoint and used a survey to assess several characteristics of the language used in evaluation feedback (word usage, content inclusion, and the structural order of sentences). Results, …

Typed Document: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Miscellaneous class notes August 28- September 27, 2007.

Typed Document: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's notes for classes held 8:00 Tuesday and Thursday, August 30-September 25, 2007.

Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787-1900. – Book Review, Amilcar Shabazz

Amilcar Shabazz

Where I Am, There (Sh)It Will Be, Melanie Mcdougald

Melanie E McDougald

No abstract provided.

Tedious Work, Trivial Details? A Fresh Look At Bibliographic Citation, Gregory A. Smith

Faculty Publications and Presentations

The documentation styles developed by the Modern Language Association and the American Psychological Association reflect divergent assumptions regarding the apprehension and communication of knowledge. Each system expresses its rhetorical character through the aims it articulates, the sources it values, and the formats it prescribes for in-text citations and bibliographic references. Like other scholarly writing conventions, documentation styles are not arbitrary, but both shape and are shaped by the discourse communities that they serve. Emerging scholars need to be acculturated purposively to the conventions of their respective communities, while authors should consciously select bibliographic systems that support their rhetorical aims.

Session 11 - “Dangerous Things”: A Symbolic Domain For Killer Bees, Daniel E. Lebas

International Symposium on Technology and Society

Viewing usage of words in culture as key symbols, Sherry B. Ortner's indicators were applied to an analysis of the lay-public’s use of "killer bee", "Africanized Honey Bee", and "honey bee". While conducting social impact study in southern Nevada, the author noticed that informants were not associating "killer bee" with "honey bee" imagery. Interviews were conducted with residents in the community of Boulder City, Nevada focusing upon symbolic linkage between the expressions: honey bee, killer bee and Africanized Honey Bee. It was determined that people do not link these expressions together in the same symbolic domain. Ethnohistory of the human/bee …

Ethical Strategies That Make 'Good' Business Sense: Direct-To-Consumer Advertising Of Prescription Products, Bambi Thompson

All Theses

The increased use of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals has caused everyone from physicians and patients to congressmen and professionals to question the ethics of the practice. Although the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulates advertising content, healthcare professionals often criticize the practice on the basis of weakening the doctor-patient relationship and jeopardizing patient well-being. Pharmaceutical companies have found print and broadcast ads in DTC campaigns to greatly increase the sales of their products. However, because of the impact of DTC on patient lives and health, the ethics of the practice need examination. The purpose of this thesis is to …

Lies Breathed Through Silver: Mythological Constructs In Tolkien’S Works, Joshua Mccrowell

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

It’s not hard to imagine the English air being warm the night John Ronald Reuel Tolkien brought Clive Staples Lewis hard won into Christianity. The image of their lengthy midnight talk has since become almost mythic to those who study those two authors because of the impact that Christianity (and the other) had on each other’s lives. Lewis’ most famous works - everything from Narnia to his Space Trilogy to his apologetics - all are based on and inspired by his faith. Similarly, Tolkien once said that “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic …

Accounts Of Violence From Arabs And Israelis On Abc-Tv’S Panel Discussion From Jerusalem, Richard Buttny, Donald G. Ellis

Communication and Rhetorical Studies - All Scholarship

The North American network, ABC-Television, broadcast the news-panel program, Nightline, from Jerusalem during the beginning days of the Second Intifada. One of the main themes of this discussion was the violence, pain, and trauma—the civilians killed or wounded, the military’s actions, and how it all started. Even the horrible facts of violence must be told or narrated and discussed for its morality, causes, consequences, responsibility, and political ramifications. In this sense, violence is discursive. How violence gets told, how versions get constructed or contested is our focus. Participants used the communicative practices of invoking membership categories and activity terms and …

The Live Web And Screen Identity, Thomas Burkdall

Thomas Burkdall

No abstract provided.

Engendering Agency: Literacies, Social Action, And Wangari Maathai S Green Belt Movement, Cassandra Marie Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the life and work of Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, one of the foremost African woman rhetors of our time. Wangari Maathai--founder of Kenya's Green Belt Movement (GBM), Member of Parliament, and activist for democracy, sustainable development, and human rights--has cultivated a multidimensional literacy that has allowed her to truly understand and address the problems that post-colonial Kenyans face. Her strong solution-oriented approach has allowed her to develop and refine operation of the GBM, which began simply planting trees, to produce a worldwide organization that works for sustainable development, human rights, and environmental conservation/restoration (among many others) …

What Is College-Level Writing? - The Common Ground From Which A New Secondary Post Secondary Composition Partnership Can Be Formed, Nancy Jane Berger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the Introduction to What is "College-Level" Writing?, editors Patrick Sullivan and Howard Tinberg state that the title asks "one of the most important questions in our profession" (xiii). However, even after 418 pages of essays written from the perspectives of high school teachers, college instructors, students, and administrators, the answer remains elusive because college-level writing does not, in fact, start in college - it starts in high school - where high school teachers believe they are instilling in their college-bound students the writing skills required by post-secondary institutions. The students, meanwhile, show up in first-year composition classes to find …

Invitational Rhetoric : Alternative Rhetorical Strategy For Transformation Of Perception And Use Of Energy In The Residential Built Environment From The Keweenaw To Kerala, Merle Niemi Kindred

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This dissertation explores the viability of invitational rhetoric as a mode of advocacy for sustainable energy use in the residential built environment. The theoretical foundations for this study join ecofeminist concepts and commitments with the conditions and resources of invitational rhetoric, developing in particular the rhetorical potency of the concepts of re-sourcement and enfoldment. The methodological approach is autoethnography using narrative reflection and journaling, both adapted to and developed within the autoethnographic project.

Through narrative reflection, the author explores her lived experiences in advocating for energy-responsible residential construction in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. The analysis reveals the opportunities for …

The Bridge, Volume 4, 2007, Bridgewater State College

the bridge

Volume 4 Staff

Laura Viola Maccarone, Editor-in-Chief
Shaylin Walsh, Editor-in-Chief
Cheryl Tullis, Webmaster
Maria Alonso
Michael Carter
Emily Goodwin
Ben Hogan
Michele Lyons
Shawna Macaulay
Corey Ritch
Charlie Robinson
Eric Smith
Emily Anne White
Derrick Zellmann

Mary Dondero, Faculty Advisor
Jerald Walker, Faculty Advisor
Linda Hall, Alumni Consultant
Rosann Kozlowski, Alumni Consultant

Transgressive Sanctity: The Abrek In Chechen Culture, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

The ancient tradition of the abrek (bandit) was developed into a political institution during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century by Chechen and other Muslim peoples of the Caucasus as a strategy for dealing with the overwhelming military force of Russia's imperial army. During the Soviet period, the abrek became a locus for oppositional politics and arguably influenced the representations of violence and anti-colonial resistance during the recent Chechen Wars. This article is one of the first works of English-language scholarship to historicize this institution. It also marks the beginning of a book project entitled A …

The Controversy Over The Legacy Highway In Utah: An Opportunity For Invitational Rhetoric, Carlo A. Pedrioli

Carlo A. Pedrioli

Beginning in the mid 1990s, residents of Utah began to debate the merits of the “Legacy Highway,” a large highway that would run near the Great Salt Lake in an attempt to alleviate the clogged commute on Interstate-15, which runs north/south through Salt Lake City, the state’s capital. Perhaps not surprisingly, environmental groups were upset with this proposed governmental project. Groups like the Advocates for Safe and Efficient Transportation and the Utah Department of Transportation faced off against the Sierra Club, Stop the Legacy Highway, and Utahns for Better Transportation. Generous amounts of rhetoric, including public discussion and litigation, resulted …

Review Of Cultural Representation In Native America, Christina Gish Berndt

Christina Gish Hill

What do Barbie, beer, nuclear bombs, New Age shamans, and Creole identity have in common? The authors of this anthology address each of these topics to illuminate cultural representation both of and by American Indian communities. This collection consists of articles from scholars and community activists that draw on provocative contemporary issues to suggest new directions for the study of cultural representation...

A Functional Analysis Of English Humanities And Biochemistry Writing With Respect To Teaching University Composition, Joshua Glenn Iddings

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis examines how writing differs in both English departments and Biochemistry departments in realization at the grammatical, that is, the lexico-grammatical level; and thus, how the differing writing modes are not merely realizations of differences at the lexical level, but the grammar of the texts is affected by the different world perspectives reflected by each discipline. By analyzing the lexico-grammatical realizations in texts produced by professionals in both the English and Biochemistry disciplines, through the analysis of basic writing handbooks which are required reading for many introductory writing students, and through analysis of a survey given to full-time university …

Religion And The Academy: Report On The Western Conference On British Studies Roundtable, Robert Ellison

English Faculty Research

This article is a report of a roundtable I moderated at the 2006 meeting of the Western Conference on British Studies. It proposes some directions religious studies might take in the 21st century; it is also the first publication to mention of the British Pulpit Online, an emerging digital resource for the study of the sermon from 1688-1901.

La Discussió Deliberativa: Usar El Discurs De Classe Per Promoure El Pensament Crític, Mark Felton

Faculty Publications

Per potenciar el pensament creatiu a classe cal comprendre les arrels d’aquest pensament en el raonament argumentatiu. El pensament crític inclou la recerca i l’avaluació de les raons que hi ha darrere d’una afirmació. Per prendre part en aquesta activitat d’investigació, cal entendre els elements sobre els quals es discuteix i com aquests es combinen per justificar una conclusió. Les investigacions es mostren cada vegada més unànimes en el fet que els estudiants experimenten una millora substancial en el desenvolupament del pensament crític (i que aquesta millora es transfereix també a nous temes) a mesura que van adquirint experiència en …

The Torah As The Rhetoric Of Priesthood, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

In the Second Temple period, the Torah gained scriptural authority through its association with the priesthoods of the Jerusalem and Samaritan temples. The Torah, in tum, legitimized these priests' control over both the temples and, for much of the period, over the territory of Judah as well. An original function of the Pentateuch then was to legitimize the religious and, by extension, the political claims of priestly dynasties. This point has rarely been discussed and never been emphasized by biblical scholars, however, which makes the subject of the Torah's relationship to the Second Temple Aaronide priesthood as much about the …

On Rhetoric As Gift/Giving, Mari Lee Mifsud

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In this essay, I explore the possibilities of rhetoric as gift. I begin with the Homeric gift economy and the rhetorical resources of this economy. My use of "economy" here is not reducible to a monetary exchange system, but rather a more general system of practices orchestrating cultural identity and relations. As Georges Bataille suggests, studying a general economy may hold the key to all the problems posed by every discipline (1991, 10). For Bataille everything from geophysics to political economy, by way of sociology, history and biology, to psychology, philosophy, art, literature, and poetry has an essential connection with …