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The New Sexy: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Sherlock, Krystal A. Fogle, Toni Maisano

Conversations: A Graduate Student Journal of the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology

In recent history, there have been movements advocating for conversation and change regarding traditional gender roles. As a central part of culture, British television has not escaped this scrutiny. BBC's crime drama Sherlock directed by Steven Moffat has received both critical acclaim and attention from the general public for its portrayal of women. In this essay, we venture into this conversation, and explore portrayals of existing gender roles and how the writers of the show choose to dissent with the audience's expectations of gender portrayal. We examine connections between past and present portrayals of the classic character, Sherlock Holmes, and …

“This Whole Quest For Love”: The Role Of Narrative In The Bachelor, Suzanne Shedd

Conversations: A Graduate Student Journal of the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology

Reality television has exploded into a popular culture phenomenon in recent years, and it is likely to remain a permanent media staple. With its spike in popularity, reality TV has attracted scholarly interest, but most of this attention focuses on audiences’ responses to and motivations for viewing these fact-based programs. This study, however, is more concerned with the rhetorical strategies employed in reality television that appeal to viewers and compel them to keep watching. Centering specifically on the immensely popular romance program The Bachelor, this study examines the narrative elements evident in the show that connect audiences to other stories …

The Rhetoric Revision Log: A Second Study On A Feedback Tool For Esl Student Writing, Natalie Marie Cole

Theses and Dissertations

A common pattern in teacher feedback to ESL writing is to provide students feedback on primarily grammar, often sidelining content (Ferris, 2003). This research is a second study of an original study done by Yi (2010) on a rhetoric revision log. This Rhetoric Revision Log (RRL) helped teachers and students track content errors in writing. This research further studies the success of the RRL with some minor changes made based on previous research results. Data consists of the Rhetoric Revision Log (RRL) given to 42 students in three different ESL writing classes at the same level with four different teachers. …

Expanding Composition Pedagogies: A New Rhetoric From Social Media, Ashley Evans

Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, the field of rhetoric and composition has valued long-form essay writing, which requires students to engage patiently and at length with revision. In contrast, students today spend much time outside of school producing fast-paced and short posts for social media. This dissertation argues that students’ social media interactions provide them nuanced, dialogic, and complex rhetorical understandings about writing—but that students need help developing discursive processes to support transfer of their social media knowledge to other writing contexts, including long-form academic writing. Drawing from two semesters of in-class study, I construct for first-year composition classrooms a pedagogy that embraces and …

Paving The Path For Sex Education: An Analysis Of Journey Metaphors In Political Rhetoric, Tara Mcqueen

University Honors Theses

This paper analyzes four key political texts regarding access to comprehensive and abstinence-only sex education in the United States, beginning in 1919 and culminating in 2016. The aim being to draw attention to the relationship between political rhetoric on sex education and the metaphorical language that is utilized to discuss the matter. Presented here is the argument that discourse on sex education revolves around journey metaphors and most often reflect the underlying conceptual metaphors that LIFE IS A JOURNEY and/or POLITICS IS A JOURNEY. This framing of the debate began in 1919 when a pamphlet distributed by the United States' …

Transnational Abolitionist Rhetoric To End Modern Slavery, Laura Barrio-Vilar

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In his 1998 autobiography, Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American, Jean-Robert Cadet denounces the horrors of modern child slavery as he narrates his life journey. Emotionally, physically, and sexually abused under the restavek system, Cadet migrates with his “masters” to the United States, where he pursues a formal education, joins the army, and acquires a middle-class status.

Today, Cadet has his own organization, dedicated to ending child slavery in Haiti through education and advocacy. In this presentation, I analyze how Cadet adopts conventional genre characteristics of slave narratives and U.S. migration literature in order to enter the …

Prisoner Of Context: The Truman Doctrine Speech And J. Edgar Hoover’S Rhetorical Realism, Stephen Underhill

Communications Faculty Research

In this project, I argue that J. Edgar Hoover’s style of political realism should be studied by critics because it long preceded that of President Harry S. Truman. Thestyle belonged to a stockpile of anti-Communist imagery that helped to shape how the Truman Doctrine speech was drafted and how audiences interpreted its meanings in more local domestic politics. When Truman fınally announced that the Soviet Union had challenged international protocol, I argue that he confırmed the vision that his Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director and other detractors had developed throughout the New Deal to discredit reformers who challenged issues …

Writing For Strangers: Structural Transformations Of The Public Letter, 1640-1790, Shang-Yu Sheng

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines public letters in England during the period spanning the English Civil War to the French Revolution, showing how authors employed the printed epistolary form to imagine different relations with the “stranger readers” who constituted the nascent reading public. I employ a formalist approach to analyze the various rhetorics made possible through the public letter’s framed structure, focusing on the assemblages of the narrative positions of letter writer, addressee, and reader. Each chapter describes a mode of the public letter in socio-spatial terms: spectacle, network, community, and public. Building on studies in book history and print culture, this …

Getting Out Of The Basement: Space, Performance, And The Oscillation Of Diy Punk Publics, Ryan L. Bince

Theses - ALL

This thesis takes the example of two scenes of activity—a punk house in Huntington, West Virginia and a 2016 DIY punk rock festival—to investigate the material-spatial influences that play out across the worldmaking performances of DIY Punk counterpublics as they oscillate across spaces that range from the intimate underground to the public writ large. Drawing on a mass of data including field interviews from punk house residents and fragments gathered from the festival and the internet, I render these scenes as radical activist worldmaking spaces that organize and prepare the international DIY punk community to do instrumental activist work. This …

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 …

From Feminist Activist To Abortion Barbie: A Rhetorical History Of Abortion Discourse From 2013-2016, Skye De Saint Felix

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a rhetorical history of abortion discourse with an emphasis on the rhetorical moment from 2013-2016. To uncover the rhetorical strategies used to shape consensus on abortion, I highlight three major events—Senator Wendy Davis’s (D-Fort Worth) notorious 13-hour filibuster against Texas’s HB2, the conservative capture of Davis as Abortion Barbie, and the Supreme Court case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016). Because of these key rhetorical moments, pro-choice and anti-choice publics cultivated a period of heightened tension that reinvigorated abortion debates. While pro-choice groups employed narrative to centralize women as rhetorical agents and open spaces to discuss abortion, …

Articulating The New Normal(S) : Mental Disability, Medical Discourse, And Rhetorical Action., Andrew Wesley Holladay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“Articulating the New Normal(s): Mental Disability, Medical Discourse, and Rhetorical Action” studies the writing of people diagnosed with autism and post- traumatic stress disorder within online discussion boards related to mental health and outlines their unique rhetorical strategies for interacting with biomedical ideologies of psychiatry and activist discourses. The opening chapter situates this dissertation in relation to previous scholarship in Rhetoric, Disability Studies, and other fields. I also provide a summary of the set of mixed methods I use to gather and analyze my data, including rhetorical analysis, corpus analysis, and qualitative interviews. In Chapter 2, “Medical Terminology and Discourse …

Business Communication For Success - Gvsu Edition, Unnamed Author, Mark Schaub, Jenniffer Eckert, Anessa Fehsenfeld, Rhonda R. Hoffman, Adam Krusniak, Tami Mccoy, Rachel Jean Norman, Julian Toscano

Open Textbooks

About the GVSU Edition

This text is an adaption of Business Communication for Success, an open textbook produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing in 2015.

Chapters 9, 18, and 20 of Business Communication for Success: GVSU Edition were revised and rewritten by student authors in 2017, as part of a course in the Writing Department at Grand Valley State University. All other chapters retain the content and formatting of previous editions.

Note about the 2015 edition:

The edition produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing was itself adapted from a work …

Hamilton: Publics Theory, The Rhetorical Impact Of Theater And Reimagining The American Founding, Anna Sanford Low

Theses and Dissertations

In a time when our nation is particularly divided and confused about its identity, Hamilton, the Broadway musical created by Lin-Manuel Miranda has become an example of art's ability to unify disparate ideological, socio-economic and racial groups. The play's reception deserves study to understand how both liberals and conservatives can agree upon an interpretation of a musical that celebrates diversity in race and representation. Celebration and interpretation of the play has been so widespread that a public has emerged, furthering the influence of the play's ideas. This public is unique in a time when most people cocoon themselves in …

Enabling Pain, Enabling Insight: Opening Up Possibilities For Chronic Pain In Disability Rhetoric And Rhetoric And Composition, Hilary Selznick

Theses and Dissertations

In the dissertation “Enabling Pain, Enabling Insight: Opening up Possibilities for Chronic Pain in Disability Rhetoric and Rhetoric and Composition,” Hilary Selznick argues that pain is rhetorical, accessible, and communicable to those without the lived experience of chronic pain. Additionally, she argues for the necessity of considering chronic pain as a disability and not merely as a symptom of a disability. In order to make these arguments possible, Selznick crafts a political-relational-rhetorical methodology that challenges restrictive models of disability and theoretical and commonplace assumptions that pain is resistant to language. Specifically, Selznick’s methodology, which combines disability scholar and activist Alison …

After The Shoe Fits: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Four Versions Of The Cinderella Narrative, Faith L. Boren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fairy tales hold the power to influence societies and to challenge societal injustices, and the story of Cinderella exemplifies both of these roles. In this study, I conduct a rhetorical analysis of four different versions of the Cinderella narrative: Charles Perrault’s “Cendrillon,” the Brothers Grimm’s “Ascenputtel,” Anne Sexton’s "Cinderella,” and Disney’s Cinderella (2015). I examine Perrault’s “Cendrillon” and the Grimms’ “Aschenputtel” using constitutive rhetoric. This theory operates around the basic premise that rhetoric holds the power to aid in the shaping of societies. While analyzing “Cendrillon” and “Aschenputtel,” I specifically look for themes of classism and nationalism, respectively. I then …

Bound To A Brothel: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Institutional And Non-Institutional Anti-Trafficking Training Curriculum And Awareness-Raising Material, Kaylen Runyan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores various facets of human trafficking ranging from signs of victims to recruitment methods of traffickers, focusing specifically on the inherent connection of complex trauma as an effect of experiencing exploitation. Trauma serves as the overarching theme throughout this paper as I analyze anti-trafficking institutional organizations and their training curricula as well as non-institutional organizations and their awareness-raising material. The questions I focus on are: How do institutional texts and training curriculum prepare individuals to interact with victims of trauma? And how do non-institutional awareness-raising materials educate audiences who do not work directly with victims of trafficking on …

The Role Of Refugee Women Narratives In The U.S. Resettlement Process, Alys N. Sink

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Within resettlement scholarship, there exists a distinct absence of direct narratives by refugee women about their resettlement experiences within the United States. This absence of voice has even been noted by refugee women representatives during a 2013 UNHCR dialogue stating that: “We call for a model in which the State, the municipalities, NGOs and refugees work together to learn from each other, hear the voices from the grassroots and together develop comprehensive, coordinated and long-term responses” (Speaking for Ourselves: Hearing Refugee Voices, A Journey Towards Empowerment). This study delves into this absence of voice locally, investigating the ways in which …

Tension And Complexity In Decolonial Advocacy: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Situated Approach In Western Shoshone, Bikinian, And Hawaiian Resistance To Militarized Colonialism, Taylor Johnson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Decolonial advocacy is a difficult, complex, tension-filled realm. Indigenous advocates working for decolonization must navigate decisions about whether or not to utilize rhetorics derived from the colonial systems they challenge, when to make material demands on colonial states and when to turn inward, and when and how to build coalitions with non-indigenous people. Decolonial movements in the Western Shoshone Nation, the Marshall Islands, and Hawai’i have approached these questions in differing but overlapping ways that address the varied colonial histories each nation faces.

This thesis argues that each of these movements has alternatively utilized and rejected colonial rhetorics to serve …

Hard To See Through The Smoke : Remembering The 1912 Hillsville, Virginia Courthouse Shootout., Travis A. Rountree

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines rhetorical rememberings of the 1912 Hillsville, Virginia courthouse shootout. It begins with an overview of the historical event, then through four chapters focuses on different rememberings that take up the event. Using Burke’s terministic screens, the study presents several lenses through which to view these rememberings. Chapter One presents the national and local newspaper constructions of the shootout in three terministic screens: the violent mountaineer, the gangster, and the uncolonized other. These three screens predate what is now the hillbilly image of the mountaineer. Chapter Two analyzes performative actions of the shootout. The ballads about the event …

Color-Blind Stancetaking In Racialized Discourse, Abigail Christine Tobias-Lauerman

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I examine how language constructs and constrains racialized discourse in post-Jim Crow contemporary America. Drawing on rhetorical and sociolinguistic work set forth by Booth, Shotwell, Bonilla-Silva, Omi and Winant, and others, it is apparent that racial organization— and racial identities and categorization— in the US is reliant upon specific markers that signify racial meaning. Such markers are assimilated into wider, unconscious discourse through what Shotwell and Booth describe as seemingly inherent— yet ultimately constructed— matters of “common sense,” and are expressed through evaluative stance acts. I explore the origins and construction of these markers and the relationship …

Getting Somewhere: People V. Turner (2016) And The Efficacy Of Survivor Narratives, Gheorghe L. Williams

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

An examination of the narrative and rhetorical techniques employed in survivor narratives, and how these have been necessitated by legal biases and unjust social and cultural practices.

(Un-)American Movement: Unaccompanied Immigrant Children And The Rhetoric Of Space And Identity, Emily K. Royer

Political Science Honors Projects

Immigration, in all its various forms, has become one of the most pressing issues of the modern era. In the contemporary United States, the arrival of migrants—be they refugees, asylum seekers, documented or undocumented immigrants—is often figured as a problem of existential proportions. In this project, I turn my attention to a significant recent development in the new American immigration “crisis.” During the summer months of 2014, the United States witnessed a period of heightened migration by unaccompanied children from the Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Through a rhetorical analysis of congressional hearings held in response …

Literary Pedagogies At Umsl: Combining Case Study With Personal Narrative, Elizabeth Miller

Theses

Through traditional scholarship and an analysis of survey data collected from undergraduate literature students at the university, I investigate the ways in which pedagogies of composition and disability studies can be incorporated into the teaching of literature. Historically, literary scholarship has not focused on issues of pedagogy to the degree that other divisions within English Studies have done, and it is therefore necessary to determine what gaps exist, if any, and how they might be bridged. For example, composition pedagogies often emphasize active, student-based teaching paradigms that are rooted in students’ personal experiences and the kind of writing that interests …

It’S About ‘That Time’ To Break The Cycle: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Challenging Menstrual Taboos, Audrey Marie Lamborn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Menstrual taboos exist around the world, and while new conversations are starting to address these issues, in many regions these taboos limit women’s daily lives and can even lead to serious health problems. Artifacts around the world are starting to emerge to challenge these preconceived notions and bring menstrual hygiene awareness as well as products to women in need. While the origination of the menstrual taboo is not clearly defined, various literature discusses both the cultural and religious origin and perpetuation of menstrual taboos. This thesis examines various artifacts found in the regions of the United States and the United …

Apologies For Cross-Posting: Composing Disciplinary Affects And Conflicts On The Wpa Listserv, Zachary Beare

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Drawing on theories of counterpublics, online communication, and affect, this dissertation argues that the Writing Program Administrators Listserv (WPA-L) functions as an important site of disciplinary knowledge-making and theory-building for the field of Composition and Rhetoric. The dissertation examines the WPA-L as a discursive space in which members of the discipline build community, debate pressing issues, and strategize how best to advocate for their individual and collective interests. At the same time that these qualities reveal how the listserv functions as counterpublic space for the discipline at large, the dissertation argues that sub-disciplinary counterpublics made up of individuals marginalized within …

Sexy Robots: A Perpetuation Of Patriarchy, Ashlyn Des Roches

Communication Studies

This feminist critique looks into the way that gender, specifically females, are portrayed in some of Hollywood's top films involving Artificial Intelligence: Blade Runner, Her, and Ex Machina. These movies work as a perpetuation of patriarchal ideologies while maintaining the objectification and hypersexuality of women as normalized behaviors. Additionally, while some forms of empowerment are conveyed, the features illustrate women merely on a spectrum of extreme behavior; due to Heuristics and Cultivation Theory, these misrepresentations can be associated with women outside the surrealist realm of the depicted artificially intelligent worlds.

She Dreams In Burkean Color (Or, On Rhetoric And Writing Pedagogy), Paul Walker

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Edward Channing’S Writing Revolution: Composition Prehistory At Harvard, 1819-1851, Bradfield Edward Dittrich

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation, building on the work of John Brereton, Robert Connors, and others returns to the Harvard University Archives to reconstruct the Harvard rhetoric program under the leadership of Edward Tyrrel Channing from 1819 to 1851. During that time, coincident with the industrial revolution, U.S. publishers experienced a period of rapid growth as the cost of production for books, newspapers, and magazines dropped, and demand for print grew among a nascent middle class. Against that backdrop, and in spite of considerable resistance, Channing engineered a substantial shift at Harvard from an oratory-based curriculum to a writing-based one, just as the …

Feminist Pedagogies In The Creative Writing Classroom: Possibilities And Reflections, Angela Lagrotteria

ETD Archive

As a first-time student in a creative writing course and a long-time instructor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, I see possible paths that instructors in both fields could take in order to integrate creative writing and feminist pedagogy in ways that might increase students’ desire to write and to share their writing while at the same time helping students undertake feminist analyses. In the creative nonfiction writing class I took with Professor Lardner in the fall of 2015, I saw how many students (myself included) were writing about transformative personal experiences, but in this class, we never discussed these …