Digital Commons Network^™

Useful Untruth: The Utility Of Deceptive Rhetoric In Apps, Websites, And Games, Brandon Hardy

English Theses

Deception is a prevalent digital rhetoric strategy used in websites, apps, and games to nudge user behavior. A deceptive design employs multi-modalities to influence how people perceive choices. In user experience (UX) design, deception is often seen as an unethical practice that leads to “dark patterns,” designs in digital media that take advantage of users by exploiting their emotions and cognitive biases to mislead them toward detrimental behavior. But not all deceptive designs are dark patterns. In fact, deception can be applied to purposes that benefit users’ digital wellbeing and improve the usefulness of digital media. This thesis explores the …

On American Fascism: The Fascist Rhetoric Of Donald Trump And The Right Wing-Media, Aaron S. Huff

Political Science Theses

In the wake of the election of Donald Trump, there has been an ever-increasing rise in openly right-wing authoritarian rhetoric: what I would label as fascism rhetoric. Fascist rhetorical devices are used to sensationalize and dramatize right-wing extremists into false notions of political and social reality and conspiratorial thinking. This way of communication ultimately leads to an increase in physical and aggressive attacks, through language and violence, against those deemed as an ‘other’ by a nationalized and mythicized ‘us.’ This being the case, the language reflects notions such as an ahistorical, mythical past of the nation’s history, glorifying the “chosen …

Memes, Themes, And Rhetorical Schemes: Analyzing The Themes And Rhetorical Devices Used By Meme Creators In American Political Internet Memes In The First Week Of The Ukrainian-Russian War, Edward B. Zimmerman

Communication Theses

Internet memes carry news messages to mass audiences through social media platforms. In seconds, global events can be transmitted to millions of users in the form of an image with text overlayed. Despite the power of memes, there has been little scholarly research devoted to the selection mechanism of meme-makers. As both audience and creator, meme-makers’ craft and consume messages capable of influence. Grounded in work on rhetorical analysis and framing, this study examined memes posted to conservative and liberal affiliated Reddit communities in the wake of the first days of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The analysis focused on the themes …

Recruitment Rhetoric Of Metro Atlanta-Based Corporations, Cameron Moore

English Theses

This thesis, paired with the website “Recruitment Rhetoric” https://cmoore1240.wixsite.com/recruitment-rhetoric, seeks to analyze the ways in which selected metro Atlanta-based corporations utilize and construct recruitment rhetoric based on three theories: the rhetorical situation, mythos, and cultish. From this analysis, this paper then constructs a pedagogical strategy to teach recruitment rhetoric in freshman composition courses at Georgia State University to help undergraduate students develop a rhetorical literacy around corporate recruitment as they enter the workforce. Ultimately, this project aims to start a necessary conversation in the field that develops and interrogates recruitment rhetoric literacy practices.

Lost And Found In Translation: Women Translating The Classics As Rhetorical Acts, Alexandra Sladky

English Dissertations

Women translators of the classics by Homer, Vergil, and Ovid situate themselves between a text and an audience who occupies a culture that is at odds with the ancient world. Women use rhetorical strategies to correct misunderstandings and misappropriations in these canonical texts. “Lost and Found in Translation: Women Translating the Classics as Rhetorical Acts” juxtaposes men’s translations of the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and Metamorphoses with women’s recent translations through text analysis.

Chapter One, “Lost and Found in Translation: An Introduction,” situates my approach and analysis of Caroline Alexander’s Iliad (2015), Shadi Bartsch’s Aeneid (2021), Stephanie McCarter’s …

Collective Identity And Feminist Rhetorics: 19th-Century Relief Society Leaders' Use Of Ethos-Based Identities As A Pathetic Appeal To The Women Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Tiffany Gray

English Theses

Latter-day Saint women have led the Relief Society by implementing a rhetorical practice that seeks to unite the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 19^th-century Relief Society leaders began a rhetorical pattern of persuasion by utilizing ethos-based rhetorics found in their use of the collective identity ‘Sister’ and feminist identity of ‘Charity Work.’ As exemplified by commemorative acts of remembrance of the Relief Society’s March 17^th Birthday and the perpetuated use of the terms established by the first leaders of the Relief Society, Latter-day Saint women continue to invoke pathos as a relationship …

Rhetorics Of Cancer In America, Christopher J. Wernecke

Communication Dissertations

This dissertation examines the constitutive functions of multimodal cancer rhetoric in America and critiques the resulting ideological consequences. This study locates the multimodal manifestations of American cancer rhetoric within three realms – textual/oral, visual/material, and bodily/performative. Beginning in the discursive realm, it traces the metaphoric evolution of the “War on Cancer” and the “Cancer Moonshot Initiative” in presidential rhetoric before then moving to an analysis of artifacts from American cancer rhetoric’s nondiscursive formations. For the visual/material modality, this study analyzes the pink breast cancer “awareness” ribbon and the yellow Livestrong cancer “support” bracelet; for the bodily/performative modality, it then considers …

Analyzing The Rhetorics Of Wine: Ethnographic Research Of Wine Community Narratives, Bailey Mcalister

English Dissertations

In this dissertation, I explore the effective communication and rhetorical practices of sommeliers and wine professionals. Using interdisciplinary work and ethnographic study, I analyze the general narrative of the wine community in order to draw conclusions about the rhetorics of wine. Specifically, I argue that professionals in the wine community utilize a unique expertise founded on managing relationships between the wines, the experiences, and the wine community, and that these rhetorics are crucial to the industry's success. To support my argument, I conducted personal interviews with seven wine professionals during the summer of 2022. These primary sources inform my rhetorical …

Memory In The Time Of Covid, William Hy Canter

Communication Dissertations

This dissertation examines six characteristics of memory in accordance with the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is a major event that has changed how society operates. With the conjunction of digital archives, memory performances have changed. In light of a major world pandemic and the shift to the digital a reassessment of memory is needed. 1) With many museums physically closed, the context of the pandemic with the affordances of technology allowed for memory to symbolically be performed through the digital archives. The future of memory studies must contend with digital archives as memory performances. 2) Computer assisted analysis may help with …

The Identity Of Yoga: Contemporary Vs. Traditional Yogic Discourse, Octavia Nasr

Communication Theses

Modern yoga is a multibillion-dollar economy that penetrated many fields, from fitness to healthcare. Yoga’s popularity shows its relevance and adaptability. However, scholars found that modern yoga is synonymous with postural yoga. In this thesis, I establish that yoga’s identity is rooted in the Eight Limbs of the iconic Yoga Sutras of Patanjali ––postures being one of the limbs constituting yoga’s identifiers. Then, I link the yogic postural shift to the truncation of yoga’s identifiers in teacher training curricula. I argue that modern yoga schools focus more on postures and downplay the other limbs, especially the first two – ethical …

Secondary & Collegiate English Composition Education In Turkey: A Case Study Of History And Present State, Haris U. Haq

English Dissertations

Turkey is a nation situated between Europe and Asia with a population of over 80 million. It is literally and metaphorically an embodiment of its reputation as the intersection of East and West, be it geographically, socially, politically, or culturally. Its modern history was significantly influenced by its role as the succeeding state to a collapsed empire and adapting to the ever-changing world it found itself engaged with. This dissertation analyzes the state of English composition education in Turkey at the secondary and tertiary levels, responding to a gap in the literature in examining contexts outside of the United States. …

The Taste Of Toxic Rhetoric Within Tiktok?S Cosplay Community, Amber Murray

English Theses

The following thesis aims to illustrate how Enlightenment-era conceptions of taste as discussed in the writings of David Hume and Hugh Blair appear in the toxic rhetoric espoused by some members of the cosplay community on the social media platform TikTok. Through an analysis of a representative comment section, this study identifies how Hume’s idea of a “true judge” and Blair’s belief in the improvable and “correct” qualities of taste are utilized in an attempt to justify one of the most distasteful behaviors within today’s society – racism. In drawing these connections, this research illustrates a complex duality of taste …

The Evolution Of The Lyrics Of The Beatles As A Social Function Within The Popular Culture, Leslie King

English Theses

ABSTRACT

This thesis analyzes the rhetorical ascendance achieved by the musical group, The Beatles, during a career that propelled them from largely musical performers/entertainers to consummate and fully-fledged artists. This thesis examines two time periods in the group’s career, and then explores the elements that affected the performer-to-artist transition, focusing exclusively on the rhetoric, not the meaning of the song lyrics. A cornerstone of the research was an analytic comparison of parts of speech.

Rethinking Discourse Communities In The Digital Age: The Effects Of Streaming On Discourse Of Gaming Communities, Russell Beason

English Theses

This thesis applies of John Swales’ theory of discourse community (DC) to online streaming sites—a context that creates what this thesis defines as a streamed-discourse community—while examining the context of online streamed discussions, and why they are relevant to rhetorical barriers to digital community building within composition/rhetoric scholarship, especially discourse community research such as Swales' that considers how discourse within a group can create distinct types of communities and social activities.

Ann Berthoff From The Margins: An Infusion Of All-At-Once-Ness For Contemporary Writing Pedagogy, Paige Davis Arrington

English Dissertations

This dissertation argues that contemporary scholarship in the field of composition and rhetoric largely marginalizes and misconstrues the work of Ann Berthoff, one of the field’s founders. Employing a feminist rhetorical, dialogic methodology, my study resources the scholarship of Ann Berthoff, the newly available archival collection of her papers, a personal interview with Berthoff, and a survey of contemporary and historical texts in the field that enroll Berthoff into their discussions. I enroll these sources in order to identify, trace the origins of, and explain the misconstruance of Berthoff’s work. This work suggests that the field pays a price in …

Programmed 'Treasuries Of Eloquence’: A Rhetorical Take On Productivity Aids In Audio Engineering Software, Thomas Breideband

English Dissertations

This project examines the influence of productivity aids in digital audio production software on matters of professional expertise, user experience, and workflow. The research is based on both the public reflections of 25 leading audio engineers about the state of the craft and the field as well as close content analyses of the most widely used software solutions for music mixing. Using the practical tenets of the fourth canon of rhetoric, memory, as a heuristic lens and emphasizing its role as an arbiter of professional expertise, this study contextualizes memory as both recollection strategy and programmed practice. It examines the …

Thru-Hiking And Why People Do It, Richard Crowley

English Theses

Thru-hiking is a modern leisure activity that attracts people during transitional states in their lives or is an activity people engage in to force such a transition. This drive for self-change is what motivates people to attempt thru-hikes, a drive which is in turn fed by Romantic discourses of rugged individualism, communitas, and the transcendental, transformative powers of nature. The social, economic, and physical risks involved with thru-hiking make it especially attractive in a society that values idiosyncrasy. This thesis draws from ethnographic research conducted over the Summer of 2017 on the Pacific Crest Trail, and from secondary research concerning …

Rhetorical Being: A Metaphysics Of Freedom And Essence, Nathan Wagner

English Dissertations

My dissertation examines the connection between rhetoric and being. I critique subject-oriented phenomenological assumptions that have perpetuated for decades within rhetorical theory and offer an alternative metaphysical methodology. I initially focus on Lloyd Bitzer and Richard Vatz’s debate about the rhetorical situation, which shaped accepted theories of subjectivity for decades to come. I offer an alternative model of the subject that is based on Augustine’s metaphysical model of being, and I focus on this notion of rhetorical being as a means of revealing knowledge as potentially, contextually already present through readings of Martin Heidegger and Emmanuel Levinas’s work. Augustine’s paradigm …

The Tyranny Of Custom: Discovering Innovations In Forensic Rhetoric From Classical Athens To Anglo-Saxon England, Steven Sams

English Dissertations

Scholarship tells the story of the history of rhetoric whereby the study of rhetoric declines first in the “Silver Age of Rome,” then loses any bearings or progress during first the Patristic period of the formation of the early Christian Church in the third through fifth century CE, and undergoes a second decline during the Germanic invasions starting in the fifth century. My task is defining and recovering new sources for rhetoric to spark more creative and in-depth analysis of this period in the history of rhetoric.

Rather than simply move through a bibliographical list chronologically, I narrow in on …

Building The New Babel Of Transnational Literacies: Preparing Education For World Citizens, Xiaobo Wang

English Dissertations

The transnational diasporas in a technological world that is postmodern and posthuman mean both exciting diverse communities and challenging problems. On the one hand, globalization brought human beings the convenience of exchanging ideas, doing business, and building a better world together. On the other hand, the political economy of nation states that shaped non-translational ideologies, created at the same time conflicts and misunderstandings among citizens from different parts of the world.

Responding to the current transnational clashes in flow (information dissemination) and contra flow (surveillance and control of information flow) of our information age, this dissertation builds up a transnational …

Neo-Fascism And The State: The Negotiation Of National Identity In Modern Russia, Hanna Baranchuk

Communication Dissertations

The present dissertation is a study of the process of national identity renegotiation in modern Russia. More specifically, I analyze the use of the word fascism in contemporary Russian discourse. Developing a blend of Kenneth Burke’s theory of human motives and Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory of the subject, I compare the psycho-rhetorical narratives of the four distinct parties - Vladimir Putin, state-sponsored “anti-fascists” (Nashi), independent anti-fascists (Antifa), and neo-fascists - which fight over the usage of the word fascism in their attempts to renegotiate the meaning of Russianness. While explicating the mechanism of national identity construction, …

Queering Images Of Citizenship: Rhetoric, Representation, And Lgbti Refugees, Emily Kofoed

Communication Dissertations

In the following dissertation, I consider how the legal challenges faced by LGBTI refugees might compel reflection on and revision to traditional conceptions of citizenship in the United States. Specifically, I explore the question of how queer refugees and asylum seekers might alter – or queer – the meaning of “citizenship” in the United States. This project contributes to the conversation about citizenship in the field of rhetoric in multiple ways: (1) It highlights tensions between the cultural construction of citizenship and its legal parameters, (2) It expands rhetorical citizenship scholarship through attention to the intersection of identification, marginalization, and …

Rhetorically Constructing Immigrants In French And U.S. History Textbooks: A Burkean Analysis, David Alexander

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

Both France and the U.S. have witnessed extensive immigration in the twentieth century, and today, more than ever since World War II, the world's population is in dramatic flux. Currently almost fifty-four million people worldwide are identified by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as displaced people. If and how France and the U.S. should accommodate displaced peoples has agitated political debate in France and the U.S. with conservatively aligned political parties in both countries rejecting calls to resettle displaced peoples in France and the U.S. At the center of this dissertation is the following …

The Value Of Scholarly Writing: A Temporal-Material Rhetorical Analysis Of Delivery In Google Documents, Valerie Robin

English Dissertations

This project examines the impact that cloud-based writing has on scholars’ material work processes and the temporal value shift that occurs as we write in an ‘always-on’ environment. It analyzes how interactive writing software (IWS) like Google Documents serve to forefront functions of interactivity between writers, and by doing so, reshape and create Western values surrounding the academic writing process that are uniquely post-industrial. Using James Porter’s (2009) components of digital delivery as a lens, this project contextualizes the ways that the work of writing is performed online by looking at the features embedded in a Google Document. This examination …

Composition Assignments With Workplace Relevance: An Examination Of Technical Communication Coursework And The Reading And Writing Demands Of Professional Engineers, Ann Marie Francis

English Dissertations

When the Accreditation board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) implemented Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000), the new accreditation criteria prompted a distinct shift in technical writing pedagogy, specifically in technical communication classes at universities that require technical writing classes as part of their engineering curriculum. The changes in technical writing classes were made primarily in response to criterion g of ABET’s Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs: graduating student must possess “an ability to communicate effectively,” especially since engineering curriculum often require a single technical writing class to meet the needs of criterion g.

This study explores the connection between the technical …

"Speaches Seeming Fitt": Rhetoric And Courtesy In The Faerie Queene, Michelle L. Golden

English Dissertations

The practice of courtesy was of the utmost importance in Renaissance England; courtesy was tied to social standing, virtue, and civility. Spenser joins in a rich tradition of courtesy literature by including the Book of Courtesy in The Faerie Queene. His presentation of courtesy goes far beyond the limited discussion of the concept by his predecessors and peers; instead of limiting his depiction of courtesy to “courteous” behavior, Spenser includes every aspect of courtesy, including courteous and completely discourteous behavior and effective and ineffective expressions of courtliness.

Spenser’s courtesy involves layers of complexity that exist in various social spheres …

Legislation As A Site Of Contested Meaning In United States Congressional Debates, John Rountree

Communication Theses

Rhetoric and public policy scholars have shown interest in uncertainty and polysemy in Congress, but they have traditionally treated legislation as a given. Members of Congress disagree about what policy should be, but they also disagree about what any given bill proposes to do. From a rhetorical perspective, I investigate the creation of uncertainty about legislation through the 2013 Senate debate on immigration. I argue that legislation is inherently ambiguous because legislative debate is consistently pushed behind the language of statutes. Rather than consider statutes unto themselves, members of Congress understand them in terms of the potential acts they sanction. …

Neurorhetoric(S) And Neurocomposition: Foundational Questions For Future Research, Robert Manfredi

English Theses

This thesis aspires to give voice to Jordynn Jack and L. Greggory Appelbaum’s call for more research in Neurorhetorics. The first chapter reviews the pertinent literature encompassing what is titled, “The Rhetoric of Science,” noting appropriate concepts, arguments, and theories. The second chapter provides an introduction to fundamental ideas in Neuroscience and connects them to possible concepts and concerns within Rhetoric and Composition, raising questions for future consideration.

The Clinton Administration's Use Of Hermeneutic Opportunities In The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights And The Convention On The Prevention And Punishment Of The Crime Of Genocide During The Bosnia And Rwanda Genocides, Kimberly Overmier

Communication Theses

This thesis explores the hermeneutic opportunities in the United Nations’ human rights documents which are used by states, like the United States, to rhetorically circumvent the responsibilities the documents place on U.N. member states. The way these opportunities are strategically used is examined through case studies of the Clinton administration attempts to evade involvement in the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides. News conferences, press briefings and speeches are used to do a rhetorical analysis of Clinton’s strategy in order to determine how that strategy was shaped by the constraints and opportunities of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention …

Emergent Disciplines And Cultural Divisions: Melvin Kranzberg's "Laws Of Technology" And New Humanities, Matthew Sansbury

English Theses

Dating back to the dialectic between Socrates and Plato, innovative technologies have disrupted the traditions of discourse and created cultural divisions relevant to composition studies. These conversations are echoed in the Twentieth Century through the work of Melvin Kranzberg. Looking to the future, he sought to record the history of technology to maintain the constant upsurge of innovation. Like Kranzberg’s history of technology, the field of rhetoric and composition and this thesis seek to define technology and understand its value in order to navigate and interrogate effectively the deluge of twenty-first-century new media. Kranzberg—like many scholars in computers and composition—utilized …