Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

The Mythological Perspective Of Modern Media: Cross-Cultural Consciousness And Modern Myths, Rebecca E. Evans

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This piece assesses the cultural implications of modern narratives that incorporate classical mythology, specifically focusing on the hero’s journey. When the similarities of different myths across different cultures are analyzed, it becomes clear that there are modern analogs that incorporate mythic qualities and cultural values. These mythic foundations are analyzed here in popular works like Harry Potter, Star Trek, and Legend of Zelda, where the hero’s journey becomes an almost universal experience that inspires cross-cultural consciousness. The hero’s journey has evolved from a simple literary tool into a cross-cultural touchstone that shapes narratives into familiar works of cultural significance across …

Of Ivory And Eros: How Kurtz Was Corrupted By The Congo, Alexander T. Grey

The Criterion

While much ink has been spilled about the savagery and rawness of Conrad's magnum opus, Heart of Darkness, few scholars have sought to look at the softer side of Kurtz, Marlow, and the cast of characters. This essay attempts to view the work through the lens of love and the Grecian concepts of eros, philia and agape as they apply to Kurtz's tryst and what can be learned about this tormented man in the jungle when love enters the equation.

Humanity's Unlikely Heroine: Examining Eve In John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' And "Paradise Regained", Alyssa V. White

The Criterion

This essay explores the biblical world of John Milton’s poetry through the eyes of the only woman given dialogue in his most famous works, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Eve has often been read with scrutiny and judgment, with many readers and scholars dismissing her character as weak and uninteresting. The paper draws on sources from several scholars, but it works primarily with the actual text of Milton’s epics themselves. The argument of this paper seeks to counter those beliefs and provide a thorough analysis of Eve’s character and development throughout Paradise Lost, as well as her impact on the …

U.S. Presidential Leadership And Crisis Rhetoric, Robert Mccabe

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

My capstone project seeks to determine what are U.S. presidents attempting to accomplish in (or with) their speeches? This matters because presidential responses to crises can reflect how a president’s leadership abilities are perceived by the people he serves. This perception plays a large role in determining how much political strength the president has to accomplish his agenda. I address this research question by analyzing four different speeches: President Kennedy’s Address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy’s Address on the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Bush’s National Cathedral Speech after the September 11th …

Rendering Reliance: Consuming Coloniality In The Global North, Victoria L. Brown

Dissertations

In this dissertation, I offer a theoretical lens for understanding how the Global South is imagined by the Global North. The Global South has become a popular cause that for-profit companies use in order to engage in what Samantha King terms cause-marketing. While individuals in the South are certainly helped by these campaigns, they are harmed through Northern consumers being empowered by private companies encouraging them to adopt a colonizing gaze that subjugates those in the South with adhering to stereotypes. I develop three rhetorical devices that fulfill stereotypes long-held about those who are “other.”

First, I offer the endangered …

A Matter Of Value: Creative Writing Strategies And Their Transference To Composition, Brandy Dawn Clark

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Creative writing and composition seem to be taken, at least in the academic world, as separate and unequal entities. While there are many questions in the research and answers in the research as to why creativity is important, its practical application in the composition classroom is not readily discussed because there is not unanimous agreement as to if creative writing even belongs in the composition classroom. Practical application of creative writing in the composition classroom gives teachers the opportunity to see why it is important, to see why it is valuable, and to incorporate it into already meticulous class standards. …

Spiritual Transformation At Austin Christian Church, David Hooper

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project was designed to meet a need at the Austin Christian Church (ACC) for enhancing the spiritual formation of new converts to Christianity by providing clear direction for mentors seeking to disciple others into the image of Christ. The scope of this project is focused directly on taking the first steps toward a deliberate pathway for spiritual formation by establishing the foundational principles. The apostle Paul’s pastoral theology provides the theological rationale for the project. Theosis, the theologically rich description of the Christian transformative process, also informs the theological foundation for the project. Drawing on the work of Richard …

Introduction And Acknowledgments

Emerging Writers

An Introduction to the 2018 Emerging Writers Journal, with acknowledgements.

Judgement Kills: A Rhetorical Analysis Of An Anti-Racial Profiling Visual, Ty'a Oliver

Emerging Writers

Finalist for the Short Essay category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay is a rhetorical analysis of Moise Morancy’s photo series “It Doesn’t Matter.”

Millenials Are Killing This, This, And This -- Or Are They?, Samantha Butler

Emerging Writers

Finalist in the Short Essay category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay is a rhetorical analysis of Kate Taylor's article "Psychologically Scarred Millennials" and Phillip Clarke's article "Companies will only survive if they adapt quickly and stay in tune with their customers’ changing habits."

Managing Millenial Workers: A Multigenerational Approach, Katherine Beckner

Emerging Writers

First-place winner for the Short Essay category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay is a rhetorical analysis of “Here’s How To Deal With Millennials,” an article written by Susanne Goldstein, and “Managing Millennials: Embracing Generational Differences,” an academic journal article written by Jeannine S. Stewart, Elizabeth Goad Oliver, Karen S. Cravens, and Shigehiro Oishi.

Martin Luther King Jr. Rhetorical Analysis, Mandi Rocker

Emerging Writers

Third-place winner in the Short Essay category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay is a rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech "I Have a Dream."

Sustainability And The Stage: Could Censoring In Theatre Cause A Rift In Sociability?, Tyler Grace Hunt

Emerging Writers

Finalist in the Academic Category of the 2019 Emerging Writers Contest. This essay examines issues of censorship and free speech in the production of theatre plays at the high school level.

A Girl's Guide To Nail Art, Emma Rohnstock

Senior Honors Projects

Nail art has led me to be more creative in my life and helped me find my passions of film, photography, and art. I started sharing my nail art through an online blog, but wanted to formalize my interest through a book and possibly a publication in the future. By making this book, I wanted children who read it to learn a new skill and find inspiration in each technique. Nail art has allowed me to express myself and discover my creativity, so I hope this book will allow a younger audience to do the same. I wanted to share …

The Communal "I": Exclusion And Belonging In American Autobiography, Melissa Coss Aquino

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Communal “I” in American autobiography emerges as an aesthetic response to the pressure of using “the master’s tools” to write from a community on the margins to disclose identity in the conflicts of exclusion and belonging. In this case “the master’s tools” to refer to several distinct elements the communal “I” is tasked with navigating: the use of what we have come to identify as standard English, the form and function of European autobiography as a celebration of individual exceptionalism, and the contradictory pressures on these autobiographies to both elevate and protect the communities in question from further marginalization. …

Drawing Them In: Phlebotomic Pedagogy, Anne K. Johnson

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis employs a critical analysis of phlebotomy, or drawing blood, to serve as a lens through which to examine pedagogy, power, and student vulnerability in first-year composition courses. Palpable similarities exist between the teacher of composition and the drawer of blood, and this comparison reveals the normalized but troubling power dynamics housed in medical and educational institutions. Furthermore, this thesis examines the resulting dynamics produced by the institutional power imbalance in both the first-year writing classroom and the blood draw. These dynamics primarily include, but are not limited to intimacy, terror, and aggression. Through an analysis of the first-year …

'Where History Meets The Future' : A Historiographic Exploration Of Mississippi : The View From Tougaloo., Khirsten L. Echols

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“Where History Meets the Future”: A Historiographic Exploration of Mississippi: The View from Tougaloo explores the historical narratives of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with a special emphasis on Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi. In particular, this dissertation examines the ways in which Tougaloo’s official history omits the voices of its student populations. It offers, then, a revisionist reading of the school’s history, constructing a narrative from the perspective of students. Based on hours of archival research and examination of the school’s student newspaper, this dissertation constructs a method that incorporates student voices into the historical narrative. The collection of …

Pens, Print, And Pixels : Gendered Writing And The Epistolary Genre In Transitional Eras., Keri Elizabeth Mathis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a retheorization of rhetorical genres, media, and modes, with a particular emphasis on how this interrelationship reinstantiates and/or subverts deeply entrenched power dynamics over time. Current scholarship often depicts genres and media in a one-to-one relationship that obscures the intricate ways rhetorical genres and media rely on one another to enable (or hinder) writers’ participation in particular discourse communities. This project primarily focuses on gendered power and analyzes letters—a traditionally feminized genre—in three distinct time periods marked by media transition. Specifically, I explore ways women employ genre and media affordances together to assume positions of greater authority …

"We're Asking You To Show Up" : Accountability As Rhetorical Practice For Queer, Feminist, And Racial Justice Allyship., Laura Tetreault

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this threatening political climate, many are asking how to advocate for social justice across axes of difference, such as in coalitional movements working for queer, feminist, and racially just futures. Rhetoric and composition scholarship, especially cultural rhetorics, has long studied the activist practices of specific communities, but cross-community allyship remains undertheorized. This dissertation responds to these public and scholarly exigencies by more deeply exploring the complexities of positionality, privilege, and oppression that accompany advocacy across differences. The project explores the rhetorical dimensions of allyship in complexly networked, contemporary digital social justice messaging, focusing on centering racial justice in queer …

Insurgent Knowledge: The Poetics And Pedagogy Of Toni Cade Bambara, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, And Adrienne Rich In The Era Of Open Admissions, Danica B. Savonick

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Insurgent Knowledge analyzes the reciprocal relations between teaching and literature in the work of Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Toni Cade Bambara, and Adrienne Rich, all of whom taught in the Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK) educational opportunity program at the City University of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Drawing on archival research and analysis of their published work, I show how feminist aesthetics have shaped U.S. education (especially student-centered pedagogical practices) and how classroom encounters with students had a lasting impact on our postwar literary landscape and theories of difference. My project demonstrates how, …