Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

The Documentality Of Memory In The Post-Truth Era, Claire Scopsi

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This article analyzes the documentality of memories in order to ground further consideration of memory for historical research in the post-truth era. The article compares discussions of the document in document theory to those in French historical epistemology in order to establish what is a reliable documentary source. Formerly, reliability was rooted in the paradigm of truth and the authenticity guaranteed by institutions and scientists. In today's post-truth era, these foundations are questioned. This article suggests that we consider the production of historical narratives as a design process, and that we evaluate the truthfulness of a source according to three …

Rhetoric In Film: Three Explorations Of Influence In Documentaries And Digital Stories, Emily Knapp

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis is made up of three distinct articles, two written with the intention of publication while the third consists of a digital story and subsequent reflection on the process of creation. The first article serves to answer the question “Do documentary films inspire activism?” by analyzing data gained after surveying 266 members of the James Madison University community. The results suggest that viewers are moved to emotion when witnessing struggle but that they are moved to action when said action directly impacts their own life. The second article is a rhetorical analysis of the 2013 documentary film Blackfish. …

Yellow Fever: Asian Representation In Western Pornography, Chye Shoong Chin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This research project seeks to explore the various implications porn films make on Asians Orientalism. Generally, Asians in pornography are composed of multiple negative archetypes, all based on the underlining purpose of servitude. Characters are portrayed through stereotypes including the use of colonial language to misrepresent Asian men and women in both straight and gay porn videos. Referred to as Orientalism, this ideology exploits Asian characters to privilege the White, male viewer. My research project investigates the following question: How are Asians represented in gay and straight pornographic films and pornographic scenes?

I will be applying scholarly arguments to various …

The Role Of Writing Center Tutorials Of Esl Students: Exploring Tutors, Tutees, And Instructors’ Perceptions, Ibrahim Mostafa Hassan Mazen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the writing center tutorials. Based on the assumptions of the constructivist theory, this research tried to present a cognitive framework for better tutoring at the writing center and suggested better accommodations for ESL tutees. this exploratory study investigated the role of the writing center tutorials offered to ESL students through the perceptions of tutors, ESL tutees, and university instructors.

Methods. Eighty nine international /ESL students and 23 tutors were selected. They were given a survey to respond to. Afterwards ten out of the 89 students and ten out of …

Austin Taylor Papers, 1916, Austin Taylor

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

The Spectacle Of The Bomb: Rhetorical Analysis Of Risk Of The Nevada Test Site In Technical Communication, Popular Press, And Pop Culture, Tiffany Wilgar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a rhetorical analysis of presentations of risk across three different sites of inquiry: technical communication, the popular press, and pop culture. This dissertation focuses on The Nevada Test Site (NTS), a nuclear testing facility near Las Vegas, Nevada, and analyzes presentations of risk in language of the technical report following an NTS accident in December 1970. Project Baneberry, a routine underground nuclear test, became the accident known as "The Baneberry Vent" when it cracked through the earth and vented into the atmosphere, exposing NTS employees and nearby communities to radiation. Presentations of risk in the technical document …

Challenging Calls For Civility, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt

Faculty Publications

In conjunction with her article "When Free Speech Disrupts Diversity Initiatives: What We Value and What We Do Not," Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt writes about civility codes and free speech for Academe Blog.

Sinister Subshade: The Revival Of The Ku Klux Klan In Modern America, Taylor Ashton Spicer

Masters Theses

Through the implementation of qualitative analysis this study purposes to discover if there exists possible correlation between President Trump’s assent to power and the increasing legitimacy of the Ku Klux Klan. Using Ernest Bormann’s (1972) Fantasy Theme Criticism, the Knights Party official website and the Donald J. Trump official website are systematically analyzed for dramatis personae (character), setting and action. The rhetorical visions compiled from each analysis are compared employing Ernest Bormann’s (1980) Symbolic Convergence Theory. Resulting analysis suggests little to no correlation between the two movements. The two websites provide very different rhetorical visions with no overlap. The work …

#Digitalactivism: Examining #Yesallwomen And Teaching Social Media Activism In Technical Communication, Karishma Verma

Theses and Dissertations

In May 2014, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured fourteen others near

the University of California campus in Santa Barbara. A “hatred of women” was cited as the

reason for his crimes. This incident inspired the hashtag movement #YesAllWomen on social

media. Users shared examples of how although “not all men” engage in violent behaviors that

Rodger exhibited, all women go through their lives fearing. This thesis uses a technofeminist

framework to examine how the #YesAllWomen movement functioned as an online social

movement on Twitter to encourage conversation as well as promote change. I also discuss how

technical …

That's So Gay!: Queer Texts In The U.S., Jesse S. Rice-Evans, Andrea Stella

Open Educational Resources

Gender is facing an identity crisis: queer identities in the new era of gender and genre are subverting paradigms of communication and genre by working with language and narrative in new ways. Queer biography and autobiography mark an important turn in contemporary literature and poetics: the shift from a male-dominant gaze towards a kaleidoscopic perspective on queer embodiment, trans and non-binary narrative, and speculative writing about other worlds & possibilities, which offer us as readers new opportunities for storytelling and thinking about writing. These forms also make space for other identities traditionally excluded from mainstream cultural narrative spaces, and we’re …

Uncertain Certainties: An Analysis Of The American Response To The 2014-2016 West African Ebola Epidemic., Kelly Carty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the construction of scientific facts surrounding the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak as well as the subsequent uptake and transformation of those facts by the United States government. While the Ebolavirus ravaged the communities of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea, the incidence of the virus in other countries was very low. Nonetheless, the United States spent $576 million on domestic preparedness and response. This study addresses this mismatch in the context of the reinvigorated interest among rhetoricians into writing and science. Applying and expanding the methodology of Jeanne Fahnestock, this study analyzes Ebola-related statements in scientific articles, …

Empoword: A Student-Centered Anthology & Handbook For College Writers, Shane Abrams

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

EmpoWord is a reader and rhetoric that champions the possibilities of student writing. The textbook uses actual student writing to exemplify effective writing strategies, celebrating dedicated college writing students to encourage and instruct their successors: the students in your class.

Through both creative and traditional activities, readers are encouraged to explore a variety of rhetorical situations to become more critical agents of reading, writing, speaking, and listening in all facets of their lives. Straightforward and readable instruction sections introduce key vocabulary, concepts, and strategies. Three culminating assignments (Descriptive Personal Narrative; Text-Wrestling Analysis; Persuasive Research Essay) give students a chance to …

Constructing An Early Modern Queen: Posturing, Mimicry, And The Rhetoric Of Authority, Megan K. Mize

English Theses & Dissertations

As the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, a woman executed for treason, Elizabeth Tudor stood at the center of discourses that often sought to contain or even destroy her. Early on, Elizabeth understood that constant re-invention, performance, and mimicry were key strategies for survival. When she finally ascended the throne in 1558, Elizabeth continued to use these rhetorical methods to retain her autonomy, as far as possible, garnering public support and the loyalty of her court. Although Elizabeth has long been acknowledged as a historical icon and has received considerable scholarly attention, particularly from feminist and feminist-leaning …

Trauma And The Credibility Economy: An Analysis Of Epistemic Violence And Its Traumatic Functions, Gina Stinnett

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue that the work done in philosophy on epistemic injustice can put pressure on the assumptions driving the work of both trauma theory and rhetorical theory. In addition to arguing how epistemic injustice can reinforce trauma, I argue that epistemic injustice has its own power to traumatize. I refer to this as “epistemic trauma,” or a trauma to one’s ability to know their experience and to make a claim based on this knowledge. Research on epistemic injustice states that when one encounters repeated epistemic injustice, they become less likely to share their experiences at all—they fall …

Applying The Instructional Beliefs Model To Training And Development Research And Practice, Nicholas T. Tatum, Seth S. Frei

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

In 2011, Weber, Martin, and Myers introduced an innovative instructional model to more fully understand student outcomes within the classroom: the Instructional Beliefs Model (IBM). Results from this seminal article provided support to suggest that the IBM was a better predictor of student outcomes than previous models. Since its inception, this model has guided and informed subsequent instructional research (e.g., Goodboy & Frisby, 2014; Johnson & LaBelle, 2015; LaBelle, Martin, & Weber, 2013). While clearly applicable in the university classroom, the theoretical relationships outlined by the IBM offer transferability to additional instructional contexts: namely, training and development. Notably, there is …

The Media Ecology Of Etienne Gilson: Mediation In St. Augustine’S City Of God, Brian Gilchrist

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Media ecology represents a vibrant, interdisciplinary area of research that considers the relationships among human beings, language, technology, and both real and virtual environments. The following question serves as a hermeneutic entrance for this article: how might Etienne Gilson’s approach to mediation invite further discussion about the relationship between media ecology and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT)? First, Gilson’s approach to mediation is analyzed, which explores how Neo-Thomism functions as a form of media. Second, Gilson’s analysis of St. Augustine’s City of God is explicated, which evaluates how Gilson mediated this significant religious text through CIT. Third, Gilson’s mediation of …

Family Size Decreases Conversation Orientation And Increases Conformity Orientation, Jenn Anderson, Laura Dirks, Natalie Graesser, Paige Block

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

The family is a critical context for the development and maintenance of communication patterns and relationships. Family’s communication patterns are derived from two orientations: conversation and conformity. Family members also use relational maintenance strategies to sustain their relationships. Previous research has established the association between communication orientations and relational maintenance strategies, but has not explored how family size (i.e., number of siblings) may impact these variables. This study reports on results from an online survey of N = 784 participants. Our results indicate that number of siblings negatively predicted conversation orientation, but positively predicted conformity orientation. In addition, conversation orientation …

A Day In The Life Of Evil, Matthew Boedy

The Qualitative Report

Evil is a well-traveled word. It is a word that finds itself in many a discussion about many a subject. And it is not just an American trend; it is used in English-language countries in various ways, some mirroring its use in the States. And because evil is such a broadly used word, its rhetorical power can best be seen in part by its rhetorical scope. This is why this ethnographic study aims to analyze the uses of evil on the English language internet over the course of a day. The day chosen was October 24, 2016, situating the analysis …

Fiqws Fall 2018: Phase 2 Assignment Prompt The Exploratory Essay, Sabina Pringle, Missy Watson

Open Educational Resources

This phase two writing assignment prompt for FIQWS 10003 - HA1 WCGI History & Culture and FIQWS 10103 - HA1 Composition for WCGI History & Culture (fall 2018) provides guidelines for writing an Exploratory Essay in which students will consider the ideas of course readings and compose an essay that demonstrates their engagement with those ideas. The rhetorical purpose of this assignment is for students to demonstrate the ways in which their thinking about language and literacy has developed so far in the course, using evidence based on interpretations, ideas, and examples as well as passages from four or five …

The Tropes We Tutor By: Names And Labels As Tropes In Writing Center Work, Scott R. Sands

Theses and Dissertations

The following study explores the way names and labels function as tropes in writing center work. Building on Lakoff and Johnson’s work on metaphors, and using Kenneth Burke’s concept of the trope, this study analyzes the way names and labels for writing center spaces, people, activity, and preparation function metaphorically, synecdochically, metonymically, and ironically to shape the way people understand and value writing centers. This study demonstrates the ways in which names and labels used in writing center work both focus attention on particular aspects of that work and also minimize or hide other important aspects of that work. Ultimately, …

Rhetoric, Authority, And Children Of God: Charismatic Authority And Ecstasy In American Religions, Clarissa A. Stephenson

Celebration of Learning

As new religious movements have flooded the social landscape of the United States, they have inspired large counter-movements. These countermovements assumed a category of accepted religions which excluded religious movements that challenged the hegemonic way of life in the U.S. Some of these new religions - deemed "cults" by outsider groups- were seemingly able to exert total control over the actions of their followers, especially in relation to their physical and sexual relationships. Movements like Children of God- the religion to be studied in this paper- place a focus on the physical body as the road to spiritual salvation. The …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

From Davao City To Daly City: Examining Translanguaging And Transnationalism In The 1.5-Generation Filipin(A/O) Americans Of Daly City, Rita Ewing

Master's Theses

In the field of migration studies, research on transnationalism has been well

established. Applying an intersectional framework of post-colonial narrative and

linguistic anthropology to transnational migration, this research allows us to better

understand how the transnational immigrant deploys language. Through a nostalgia

studies approach, this study is able to analyze how transnational immigrants place value

on their heritage and second languages, and reflexively deploy their language sets to

reflect their unique positionality. This paper is a case study examination of five adult

members of the 1.5-generation of Filipin(a/o) American immigrants, who immigrated to

the US before the age of eighteen …

Strange Woods, Song Park

Graduate School of Art Theses

I am interested in searching for images of women that have not been adequately represented in visual art. As a visual artist, I am directed by my sense of sight to investigate and know something. I like to challenge myself to visualize things that do not already have a visual representation. It has been frustrating for me to create images of women, and I have experienced a deep ambivalence in response to the different images of women I have encountered. The socially and culturally constructed images of women that I have internalized and those that have developed from my own …

A Dramatistic Analysis Of Nevada's Controversy Over Solar Net Metering Incentive Policies, Robert S. Burgy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Utilizing a dramatistic rhetorical lens (Burke, 1945), this project examines Nevada’s 2015-2017 public controversy to decide whether or not to implement solar net metering incentives. By examining communication surrounding The Public Utility Commission of Nevada (PUCN), NV Energy, and SolarCity, this thesis analyzes the underlying social orientations contained within the controversy’s discourse. This thesis examines how the environment was left out of solar energy discourse in favor of economic reasoning. Nevada’s solar controversy is an important component of humanity’s unending conversation about our relationship to the environment and an important case study to develop our understanding of public controversy.

Is It Still Impossible To Be Black And American?, Darrian Carroll

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis engages Bill Clinton’s presidential rhetoric to investigate how liberal rhetorical practices can be used to extend and sustain the oppression of Black Americans. By adopting Du Bois’ concepts of the color-line and double-consciousness this thesis examines how Bill Clinton was able to recreate the color-line in the Mason Temple speech and benefit from and recreate a world devoid of consciousness in other selected speeches from his corpus. This project takes up three separate speeches by Bill Clinton as texts. The second chapter focuses on Bill Clinton’s “Remarks to the Rainbow Coalition” and “Remarks announcing the initiative” to make …

The Rhetoric Of The Opioid Crisis And Addiction To Prescription Pain Medicine, Rachel Kaplan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this historical moment, the United States is amidst an opioid crisis killing the young and the old; at least seventy-eight people die every day from an opioid-related overdose (Enomoto in Murthy III). Changing mindsets of the doctors who prescribe opioids is just as important as asking the patients who are prescribed them to demand an alternative medication. The different parties involved in the crisis all have a different agenda and their rhetorical bias is explored throughout this project. The pharmaceutical companies have launched aggressive marketing campaigns expressing the benefits of opioids and encouraged physicians to prescribe, the CDC has …

The Creative Feud Of Andy Warhol: A Philosophy Of Communication Ethics, Sarah Deiuliis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Creative Feud of Andy Warhol: A Philosophy of Communication Ethics begins with the assumption that the current historical moment is defined by Gilles Lipovetsky’s philosophical project known as hypermodernity. The dominant paradigm of hypermodernity, as consumption and commodity culture, elicits particularity of embedded responsiveness situated within history. Ronald C. Arnett and Pat Arneson contend that communication ethics are “value-laden philosophies of communication” uniting background narratives with foreground communicative practices (Philosophy xi). This dissertation positions Andy Warhol as a hypermodern communicative prophet. Through his life, works, and human communication, Warhol utilized art to communicate embedded ethical questions, responding to …

Communication Ethics: Ellul's Complexity Of Form, Marianne Pabis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project aims to enlarge understanding of Ellul’s dilemma of the ethical Christian communicator through a hermeneutic exploration of his intentionally un-paradigmatic treatment of technology as the determining factor in the formation of contemporary structural realities, a claim central to Ellul’s theory of technological society. It attends to the question of why, over the course of more than 50 books and over 1,000 articles, Ellul has refused to expound upon this claim as an overarching theoretical construct. As a contribution to the field of communication ethics from Ellul’s Christocentric perspective, this work also explicates the importance of what has become …

A Narrative Of Uncertain Intent: Communication Ethics Literacy And Fbi Counterterrorism Practices, Hannah Karolak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project works in the horizon of one driving question: What value does communication ethics bring to counterterrorism practices in this current moment? Following insights of communication ethics scholars that have come before, this work understands communication ethics as practices that yield social literacy about what matters to an other. This work adds to communication ethics scholarship the following finding: When applied to current and future events, communication ethics literacy affords one a lens for opening and sustaining spaces for creative communicative response. Through five chapters—which work in tandem to perform an application of communication ethics literacy to the current …