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Rhetoric and Composition Commons™

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Full-Text Articles in Rhetoric and Composition

"That’S Not A Meal, Bestie”: Humor, Identity, & Feminized Consumption In “Girl Dinner”., Claire Tudor Aug 2025

"That’S Not A Meal, Bestie”: Humor, Identity, & Feminized Consumption In “Girl Dinner”., Claire Tudor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the viral “Girl Dinner” trend as a case study in how gendered consumption, digital identity, and feminist humor intersect in digital spaces. Using “Girl Dinner” as a rhetorical artifact, this thesis explores how women use gendered trends to navigate visibility, labor, and autonomy in online spaces. Through thematic analysis of TikTok content, media coverage, and branded adaptations, the research traces the evolution of the trend from a lighthearted joke to a site of cultural negotiation. This study reveals that while “Girl Dinner” may appear empowering and relatable on the surface, it often reinforces traditional gender expectations under …


Incarcerated Women: Gendered Rhetoric From The Outside And Reality Inside Prison Walls., Taylor Riley Geiser Aug 2025

Incarcerated Women: Gendered Rhetoric From The Outside And Reality Inside Prison Walls., Taylor Riley Geiser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how formerly incarcerated women navigate and resist gendered media portrayals through digital platforms, focusing on the “mad” and “bad” woman tropes that shape public perceptions. Drawing on feminist rhetorical theory—particularly Royster and Kirsch’s methodological practices and Ratcliffe’s concept of rhetorical listening—this study combines Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of mainstream headlines with Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) of TikTok content. CDA of media coverage surrounding Lori Vallow Daybell, Casey Anthony, and Andrea Yates reveals how language, imagery, and cultural logics sustain harmful binaries that portray women who commit crimes either as depraved or as excused by madness, obscuring the …


Coalitional Belonging As Praxis: First-Year Writing And Student Community Creation In The Post-Dei University., Kendyl C. Harmeling May 2025

Coalitional Belonging As Praxis: First-Year Writing And Student Community Creation In The Post-Dei University., Kendyl C. Harmeling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation began as a study into how students interpret and engage language and actions from their institutions of higher education which allege to be supporting and supportive of universally diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus community belonging. Occurring within a locally and globally turbid context of exponential and variable challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts by institutions of power – like those of higher and public education – this dissertation seeks to understand how, within and without institutional support for DEI, students self-sponsor and community-sponsor their ways of knowing and being to claim space for their belonging on campus. …


For You, By Who? Undergraduate Students Enacting Critical Digital Literacy With The Tiktok "For You Page" Algorithm., Rachel Morgan May 2025

For You, By Who? Undergraduate Students Enacting Critical Digital Literacy With The Tiktok "For You Page" Algorithm., Rachel Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores undergraduate students’ digital literacy practices and algorithmic beliefs and awareness on algorithmically driven social media platforms like the TikTok For You Page (FYP). TikTok is a very successful social media platform with over 135 million users in the U.S. alone, nearly half of the U.S. population (Statista, 2025a). Central to TikTok’s popularity and success is its unique technological infrastructure, specifically the underlying algorithm of the FYP that shapes user experience. With a mixed-methods approach, I utilize survey data and text-based interviews (Prior, 2004) to examine participants’ experiences on the TikTok FYP. Drawing on a technofeminist methodology (Wacjman, …


Once Upon A Sh*Tty Draft..., Andrew Messer, Wendell Hixson Jun 2024

Once Upon A Sh*Tty Draft..., Andrew Messer, Wendell Hixson

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Rhetorical Analysis Of Ai-Generated Content, Rachel Morgan Jun 2024

Rhetorical Analysis Of Ai-Generated Content, Rachel Morgan

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Analysis Of Professional Writing Practices Of An Attorney, Jen Hankins Jun 2024

Analysis Of Professional Writing Practices Of An Attorney, Jen Hankins

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Exploring The Culinary Landscape: A Study Of Restaurants And Tipping Culture, Madeline Tudor Jun 2024

Exploring The Culinary Landscape: A Study Of Restaurants And Tipping Culture, Madeline Tudor

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


The Haunting Echoes Of Familial Turmoil In Adulthood, Arri Ho Jun 2024

The Haunting Echoes Of Familial Turmoil In Adulthood, Arri Ho

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


You Don’T Look Sick: Epistemic Injustice, Ethos, And Embodied Expertise In Narratives Of Chronic Illness., Caitlin Burns Allen May 2024

You Don’T Look Sick: Epistemic Injustice, Ethos, And Embodied Expertise In Narratives Of Chronic Illness., Caitlin Burns Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation project emerges at a cultural moment when diagnoses of chronic illness are increasing, and heightened attention is being paid to gendered medical bias and chronically ill women’s negative experiences both within and outside of the medical system. Analysis of personal narratives written by women and nonbinary people with chronic illnesses revealed deeply entrenched cultural logics related to health and gender and the significant affective and material consequences for the mobilization of those logics. Chapter One of the dissertation describes the exigence of the project in more detail, provides a robust overview of the dissertation’s methods, and reviews related …


Faculty And "Teams": Academic Literacies In The Post-Lockdown, Digital University., Morgan Suzanne Blair May 2024

Faculty And "Teams": Academic Literacies In The Post-Lockdown, Digital University., Morgan Suzanne Blair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increased presence of disruptive digital technologies in academia has been a subject of multidisciplinary scholarly conversation and public speculation over the past few decades. Many literacy studies scholars have contributed to this discourse, examining topics like multimodal literacies and perceptions of agency among students. These scholars have noted with skepticism that such technologies may mask operations of power, surveillance, and control which serve the demands of an increasingly “corporate” or “neoliberal” university. Building upon this scholarship, my study contends that the evolving literacy environment of the digital university requires a closer examination of corporate-sponsored narratives and literacy practices implicating …


Inside The Dojo Of Digital Media: What Marginalized Student Perspectives Reveal About Multiliteracy Center Practices., Lauren Fusilier May 2024

Inside The Dojo Of Digital Media: What Marginalized Student Perspectives Reveal About Multiliteracy Center Practices., Lauren Fusilier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multiliteracy centers serve as vital hubs for supporting students' digital media composing needs, especially those pertaining to digital literacy. This qualitative interview case study evaluates the efficacy of standard practices established by multiliteracy center scholarship, focusing on spatial design, tutor preparedness, and student engagement at the University of Louisville’s Digital Media Suite (DMS). Recognizing the significance of multiliteracy centers as sites of social and material access for marginalized students, this project gathers the experiences of first-generation and post-traditional student participants to inform recommendations for expanding practices to better accommodate diverse student demographics on university campuses. Informed by Black feminist research …


Opening And Closing Remarks From The 2024 Watson Conference On Rhetoric And Composition, Andrea Olinger Jan 2024

Opening And Closing Remarks From The 2024 Watson Conference On Rhetoric And Composition, Andrea Olinger

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This document contains the opening and closing remarks of the Watson Director, Andrea Olinger, which she delivered during the 2024 Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, “Create, Connect, Reflect: Launching Collaborations and (Re)building Community in Our Fields.” It also contains the 2024 Watson Conference Commitments.


From "Smart Talk" To "Living Well": Commonplaces And Their Role In Narratives Of Rare Disease., Caitlin E. Ray Dec 2023

From "Smart Talk" To "Living Well": Commonplaces And Their Role In Narratives Of Rare Disease., Caitlin E. Ray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As healthcare becomes more complex, automated, and bureaucratic, patients often suffer from a lack of resources, agency, and visibility when seeking medical care. Rhetoric and Composition, specifically the subfield of Rhetoric of Health and Medicine (RHM), is interested in studying and intervening into such issues. One way to challenge our current understanding of healthcare is to consider how the rare disease patient experience reveals the gaps, limitations, and assumptions of illness and health. I argue here that through rare diseases, rhetoricians of health and medicine can better understand the representation, advocacy, and patient experience within healthcare, and potentially lead to …


Communicating In Crisis: Rhetorical (De)Stabilization During The Covid-19 Pandemic., Brittany Nicole Smart Dec 2023

Communicating In Crisis: Rhetorical (De)Stabilization During The Covid-19 Pandemic., Brittany Nicole Smart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the role of rhetoric in crisis—how rhetoric can contribute to both the stabilization and destabilization of a worldwide health emergency. Specifically, I utilize the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study to investigate how institutional rhetorics exacerbated the ongoing burnout epidemic amongst healthcare workers. Through a feminist, materialist take on institutional ethnography (Fullagar & Pavlidis, 2021; Griffith & Smith, 2014), I show how, while institutions like the CDC were under pressure to contain the spread of the virus, in the chaos of communicating safety regulations to healthcare professionals, they inadvertently subverted clinician autonomy and expertise by “coordinating” (LaFrance, …


Watson Conference 2021: Racial Equity And Inclusion At The Conference, Andrea Olinger Sep 2023

Watson Conference 2021: Racial Equity And Inclusion At The Conference, Andrea Olinger

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This report analyzes lessons learned from the 2021 Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition in regard to racial equity and inclusion. It is written for (1) past and future Watson Conference attendees, who may be interested in how we have approached and the extent to which we have met our commitments; (2) future Watson Conference directors, for whom this report can serve as a benchmark; and (3) organizers of other academic conferences, who could use this report as a resource for ideas about antiracist and inclusive conference practices.


“Difference In/At The Center" A Transnational Approach For Mobilizing International Multilingual Graduate Writers' Writing Assets During Writing Instruction., Olalekan Adepoju Aug 2023

“Difference In/At The Center" A Transnational Approach For Mobilizing International Multilingual Graduate Writers' Writing Assets During Writing Instruction., Olalekan Adepoju

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project presents an empirical exploration of how the writing assets possessed by international multilingual graduate writers impact the theory and pedagogical practices in writing studies, especially regarding the approaches to teaching writing. Extant scholarship in writing studies, especially on second language research/teaching, translingual writing practices, and asset-based writing pedagogy has engaged issues of difference in language, race, culture, as well as funds of knowledge, highlighting the impacts of these differences on the academic success of non-native English speakers in US schools and colleges. My dissertation builds on these trends and highlights the narratives, perceptions, and experiences of international …


“Long Live Ear X-Tacy!”: An Oral History Study Of Rhetorics Of Nostalgia And Place., Aubrie Warner Aug 2023

“Long Live Ear X-Tacy!”: An Oral History Study Of Rhetorics Of Nostalgia And Place., Aubrie Warner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to explore rhetorical placemaking through how people understand and construct narratives around places that no longer exist. In doing so, it examines the relationship between nostalgia and place — how rhetorical construction of place is influenced and/or informed by rhetorics of nostalgia, how our experiences influence our sense of place (past and present), and how we create continuity for ourselves in the construction and maintenance of particular narratives. This study contributes to the emerging field of rhetorics of nostalgia and places it in direct conversation with rhetorics of place and unpacks how these two are more connected …


Because Of Them, Paige Santise Jun 2023

Because Of Them, Paige Santise

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


My Life Has Been Cattywampus, Andy Henderson Jun 2023

My Life Has Been Cattywampus, Andy Henderson

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Discourse Community Analysis, Norah Langford Jun 2023

Discourse Community Analysis, Norah Langford

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Analyzing Scientific Writing: Wild Dog Populations Of South Africa, Kaden Stumpf Jun 2023

Analyzing Scientific Writing: Wild Dog Populations Of South Africa, Kaden Stumpf

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


The Historical, Cultural, And Anecdotal Importance Of Iberian Ham, Zach Hisle Jun 2023

The Historical, Cultural, And Anecdotal Importance Of Iberian Ham, Zach Hisle

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


The Meal Of Summertime: The Pasty, Greta Laffin Jun 2023

The Meal Of Summertime: The Pasty, Greta Laffin

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Artist Statement And Video, Kennedy Fox Jun 2023

Artist Statement And Video, Kennedy Fox

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Infographic, Ayana Fairweather Jun 2023

Infographic, Ayana Fairweather

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Engl 102 Assignment Sheet, Michael Benjamin Jun 2023

Engl 102 Assignment Sheet, Michael Benjamin

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Engl 102 Assignment Sheet, Ayaat W Ismail Jun 2023

Engl 102 Assignment Sheet, Ayaat W Ismail

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


Engl 101 Assignment Sheet, Ayaat W Ismail Jun 2023

Engl 101 Assignment Sheet, Ayaat W Ismail

Cardinal Compositions

No abstract provided.


The Forest For The Trees: How A Local Arboretum Shapes Rhetoric And Discourse Surrounding Environmentalism., Cooper Day May 2023

The Forest For The Trees: How A Local Arboretum Shapes Rhetoric And Discourse Surrounding Environmentalism., Cooper Day

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental communication has been situated as a crisis discipline; however, scholars have recently explored how to shift to include care within the discipline. To be sure, this does not mean the crisis element should be abandoned, but, instead coupled with care so that environmental messages are positive and forward looking. This project contributes to this shift by looking at how green spaces are constructed to deliver messages of environmental care. More specifically, I analyze how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, located about 30 miles South of Louisville, KY, has been constructed and works to promote environmental care in a variety …