Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Estrangement, Harry Warwick

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Dissociation, Aylin Bademsoy

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Content Ii, Kyle Kubler, Sarah Brouillette

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Content I, Marie Claire Middlemiss Sanazaro

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Compulsion, Caleb Fridell

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Compression, Ruth Jennison

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Category, Christopher Geary

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Ascription, Rafael Lubner

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Appearance, Joshua Wiebe

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Antagonism, Will Berrington, E.J. Graham

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Age, Sam H. Samore

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Abstraction, Samuel Fisher

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Abolition, Seb B. Grossmann

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Entry for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Introduction: Reading Marx, Thomas Waller, Sean O'Brien

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Introduction for special issue, 'Keywords for Value and Culture'

Exploring Border Rhetoric, Resistance, And The American Dream: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' First House Address, Candice L. Ruh Phd, Cassandra Hightower

Feminist Pedagogy

Border rhetoric can be a “muddy” topic for undergraduates, as borders are often taught as fixed, factual lines that divide places and people. However, from a communication perspective, borders are fluid, symbolic, and socially constructed. This difference between viewing borders as physical dividers versus rhetorical constructs creates a valuable opportunity for students to think critically about how meaning is shaped by borders of land, language, and identity.             This original teaching activity uses Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ (D-NY) first House speech—the most-watched C-SPAN video within 12 hours of release (Gajanan, 2019)—as a central case. It invites students to analyze a key moment …

Critical Geopolitics And The Reconstruction Of Meaning: A Discourse Analysis Of The 'Terrorism' Label Applied To Hamas By Western Hegemony, Cahaya Mulyani Sakti, M.Hamdan Basyar

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The emergence of Hamas in 1987 cannot be separated from the configuration of modern colonialism and the continuity of occupation that shaped the political reality. Hamas’s early phase was rooted in socio-religious activities through education and community empowerment programs, before evolving into armed resistance against the occupation. The labeling of Hamas as a “terrorist” organization began in the mid-1990s in U.S. legal documents, which subsequently generated debate and gave rise to counter-narratives. This study employs the frameworks of critical geopolitics (Ó Tuathail & Agnew) and the Discourse-Historical Approach (Wodak) to analyze the labeling of Hamas as “terrorist” by Western hegemony. …

Propasafe-Hybrid: A Text-Based Hybrid Propaganda Detection Tool (Ila 2026 Presentation), Thomas Kimmeth, Avijit Roy, Vivek Sharma

Publications and Research

This presentation introduces Propasafe-Hybrid, a hybrid system for sentence-level propaganda detection that combines offline transformer-based classification with selective large language model (LLM) explainability. The system employs a two-stage pipeline in which a local BERT-based classifier evaluates all input text and filters non-propagandistic content, while only high-confidence candidates are forwarded to an LLM for rhetorical technique labeling and explanation. This design enables cost-aware, privacy-conscious, and scalable analysis by reducing unnecessary reliance on external models.

Propasafe-Hybrid identifies propagandistic techniques such as loaded language, obfuscation, and appeal to fear, and generates concise natural language rationales that make these techniques interpretable to users. By …

Enhancing Corporate Prayer Of The Clearwater Church Of Christ, Lyle Hinsdale

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation was designed to enhance corporate prayer in the Clearwater Church of Christ. The dissertation explores the formative role of corporate prayer in congregational life and how intentional engagement with the Psalms can deepen the theological and spiritual practice of prayer within a local church. Corporate prayer can slip into habitual practice with limited theological range or emotional depth. This project investigates whether structured use of the Psalms as a model for prayer can expand the language, theological imagination, and engagement in the prayers of a worshiping community. The study used participatory action research methodology and was conducted within …

The Journey Of Accompaniment: Pastoral Care Education For The Laity At The University Church Of Christ In Abilene, Tx, Alejandro Ezquerra

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This Doctor of Ministry project addresses the need for intentional pastoral care formation among lay members at the University Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, with particular attention to its bilingual ministry context. Grounded in the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers as articulated in 1 Pet 2:9, the project argues that pastoral care is not the exclusive responsibility of ordained clergy but a shared calling within the body of Christ. In response to congregational interest in chaplaincy and caregiving, a five-session curriculum titled The Journey of Accompaniment: Forming Hearts for the Ministry of Care was developed to equip …

A Curriculum To Empower And Equip Women For Leadership In The Monash City Church Of Christ In Melbourne, Australia, Devni Yasindra Attygalle

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses women in Christian leadership in the Monash City Church of Christ Melbourne, Australia. The problem identified within this ministry context was a lack of appropriate theological teaching around women in leadership, especially in the areas of preaching, teaching, and leading, which has led to misconceptions and prejudices in the minds of church members, negatively impacting the congregation’s mission. The purpose of the project was to develop a curriculum specific to MCCOC that provides a theological foundation for advocating for future senior leadership roles for women. The curriculum provides biblical teaching on women in leadership that will equip …

Digital Orientalism: Examining Eastern Practices In The Wellness Industry, Celia Golden

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

As popularity rises for global and domestic wellness retreats as tourist destinations, their predominantly Western audience invites an American offshoot of Orientalism that commodifies Asian names and practices into “mindfulness.” This paper examines the guest guide of the Miraval Berkshires wellness facility and its treatment of Eastern practices. Findings revealed 55.6% of the specialists at the Miraval Berkshires employ Eastern techniques, and 74.14% of those offerings are restricted to paid and private sessions to create exclusivity. The word “ancient” is disproportionately leveled against Eastern practices in the guest guide to further cement them as relics of the past. Alongside minimalist …

Review: Misrecognitions: Plotting Capital In The Victorian Novel By Ben Parker, Suvij Sudershan

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Review: The Poetics Of Science: Marx’S Literary Style By Ludovico Silva, Thomas A. Laughlin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Review: The Persistence Of Realism In Modernist Fiction By Paul Stasi, Chris Gortmaker

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Cultural Negotiations In Revisionist Mythmaking: Comparative Reading Of Bahram Beyzaei And Mary Zimmerman, Sepehr Karimi Mr., Bahee Hadaegh

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

 Although more than fifty years have passed since feminist scholars pioneered revisionist mythmaking, drama remains underexplored in this field despite its unique potential for cultural and social reinterpretation. This study offers a comparative analysis of revisionist mythmaking in Iranian and American drama, specifically examining Bahram Beyzaei’s play, One Thousand and First Night alongside Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses as examples. This research aims to establish general principles for revisionist mythmaking within drama, spotlighting the complexities that emerge in transnational contexts. It explores how Beyzaei and Zimmerman negotiate cultural narratives and try to reshape traditional stories and reflect contemporary issues, emphasizing gender dynamics …

Between Revolutions: The Leftist Reception Of American Literature In Iran (1905-1979), Behnam Mirzababazadeh Fomeshi

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

This paper examines the reception of American literature in Iran during the period between the Persian Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911) and the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Divided into four distinct phases (1905–1922, 1922–1941, 1941–1953, and 1953–1979), this study explores how political and ideological dynamics shaped the interpretation and translation of American literary works. Central to this reception was its inherently political nature, driven by the dominance of leftist ideologies within Iran’s intellectual landscape. The influence of the Tūdih Party and other leftist movements profoundly impacted the ways American literature, particularly the works of Walt Whitman, was translated, interpreted, and disseminated. By …

Christian Motifs In Forough Farrokhzad’S Works: A Comparison With T.S. Eliot’S Poetry, Mona Monsefi

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Forough Farrokhzad’s (1934–1967) film The House is Black (1962) is a visual poem set in a leprosarium in Iran. Farrokhzad was a prominent modernist poet who merged poetry with contemporary art forms, primarily cinema. In this film, she employed a camera to express her poetic vision, highlighting her signature style that prioritizes unique imagery. This emphasis on visual and literary images is often intertwined with themes such as religion. Notably, Farrokhzad recomposed verses from the Old Testament, infusing them with her poetic language to enrich the film’s narrative. This article explores her unique, Western-influenced interpretation of Christian motifs in …

Vision And “Sur-Vision”: Intermediality And Alterity In The Frames Of Abbas Kiarostami, Marjan Mohammadi

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Abbas Kiarostami’s cinema, often compared to Italian neorealism, oscillates between documentation and fiction. Kiarostami’s worlds, replete with a complex network of incomplete and self-reflexive frames, create a new site for perception, reflection, and intervention. This paper studies the intermedial aspect of Kiarostami’s cinema in “The Koker Trilogy” (1987; 1992; 1994), Close-Up (1990), and “Taste of Cherry” (1997). It explores how these moving images are shaped by the specific context of Iranian cinema and how they turn to reshape it. First, it examines Kiarostami’s framing techniques, which expand Iranian cinema and its engagement with Western visual conventions. …

Memory And Identity: A Comparative Analysis Of “Iranian Cultural Identity” In Asghar Farhadi’S Adaptation Of Arthur Miller’S Death Of A Salesman, Raed Faridzadeh

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Recent cultural studies examine the intersection of cultural identity and memory, often viewing culture as a symbolic sign system or "culture as text." Jan Assmann defines "cultural memory" as essential to shaping societal identity. Literature and film contribute to this process by transmitting and evolving cultural meanings, not only reflecting but also constructing knowledge and reality. Iranian cinema has become a powerful medium of cultural expression, particularly post-revolution. Filmmakers like Abbas Kiarostami, Sohrab Shahid Sales, Dariush Mehrjui, and Asghar Farhadi explore the dynamic relationship between literature and film in shaping cultural memory. This article analyzes Asghar Farhadi’s adaptation of Death …

Willy Loman’S Desperate Affair Challenges The Iranian Censorship: Asghar Farhadi’S The Salesman, Adineh Khojastehpour

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

This study examines resistance in cross-cultural adaptations, focusing on Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman (2016), an adaptation of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949). This research investigates how Farhadi's rewriting of Miller's play within post-revolutionary Iran engages in a dialogue with the Islamic Republic and its dominant discourses. It explores how this adaptation addresses Iran's social, cultural, and ideological complexities by reframing Miller's narrative of 1950s societal change and the failure of the American Dream within the context of post-revolutionary Iran. This analysis uses Bakhtin's concept of the chronotope to reveal how The Salesman uses Miller's unique concept of a …