Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

The Revolution Will Be Memed: Digital Memes As Sites For Hegemonic And Counter-Hegemonic Practices, Kimberly Sisu

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Internet memes have become a part of everyday life as a way to participate in digital and online culture. The study of memes, known as memetics, have analyzed memes in many ways: for their political and social participation, for their multimodal presence, and their influence on online discourse. What has not yet been deeply studied are the ways memes participate in hegemonic and counter-hegemonic practices. This project aims to address this gap by investigating how hegemonic and counter-hegemonic practices show up in memes on feminism, and how those practices uphold or disrupt dominant narratives. Fifteen memes on feminism are analyzed …

Nothing About Us: Three Models Of Disability In Three Works Of Literary Fiction, Mary Lipiec

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project explores how the three umbrella models of disability (medical, functional, and social) are shown in several disabled characters from three novels published after the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and Good Kings, Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum. Through the utilization of literary analysis from a cultural studies perspective, this project shows that the models of disability, despite the various flaws in their respective designs, prove to be useful lenses to see disability through, both in these novels and in real life, …

Doing The Work -- Collectively Pursuing Anti-Racist And Equitable Teaching: One High School English Department’S Journey, Sharon Murchie, Anthony Andrus, Pat Brennan, Gina Farnelli, Shelby Fletcher, Dawn Reed, Emily Solomon, Benjamin K. Woodcock

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Our district has long been heralded as a beacon school, one that delivers exceptional education in an exceptional community. Peeling back the layers, however, revealed a district that lurched towards the traditional, even with the hiring of DEI faculty and the step away from an historical indigenous mascot. In a time where teachers are exhausted and afraid of community backlash, our

English department dared to tear off the scabs of old wounds and united to push toward what is best for our changing community and students. Hard conversations, difficult topics, and months of legwork at last successfully provided the impetus …

Building Sustainable Antiracist Coalition: Developing A Research Team For Studying Diverse Language And Literacy Practices At The University, Nicole L.G. Varty, Adrienne Jankens, Linda Jimenez, Anna Lindner, Mariel Krupansky

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

In the face of so many current challenges, teachers may feel overwhelmed at the thought of engaging in antiracist work, or they may be discouraged by seemingly slow progress. This article presents present a narrative of building and maintaining an antiracist research coalition across departments at our university. By grounding our work in the important work of key black scholars, we describe our process of naming whiteness, inviting collaboration, grappling with definitions, and even identifying a few small victories along the way. Members of our group contribute their voices and perspectives from across the past two years of developing our …

Bouncing Back: Resilience And Its Limits In Late-Age Composing, Louise Wetherbee Phelps

English Faculty Publications

This essay is one of a series on my mother’s late-age composing, studying a writing project she started at age 70 and worked on for more than 25 years. Her intention was to integrate extensive reading, personal experience, and cultural observations to explain changes in parenting (and, by extension, education and enculturation of the next generation) from her childhood in the 1920s through the 2000s. When she died at 97, she left behind a 75-page draft, but was unable to complete her plans for revisions and an ending. I focus here on identifying the multiple factors in the ecology of …

Information Literacy, Media Literacy, And The Attitudinal Positioning Of Wpas Combatting Mis/Disinformation, Joshua Nieubuurt

English Faculty Publications

Informational flow is paramount to the success of interpersonal communication as well as macro communication that allows for people to engage with the overarching sociopolitical apparatuses as a citizen. Chief among hindering informational flow are the obstacles of mis/disinformation. This research project is an exploratory study into the attitudinal positioning of a wide range of WPAs across R1 research institutions. Results found that WPA's perceptions are positively aligned in agreement with the value of IL and ML. Furthermore, WPAs are utilizing IL and ML within their programs both knowingly and serendipitously. Despite the positive attitudes toward interdisciplinary approaches to combating …

Beyond The Two-Tiered System: Contingency As A Tool For Academic Upward Mobility, Wonderful Faison, Tatiana Glushko

The Writing Center Journal

This article explores the scholarly endeavors upon which writing center directors and coordinators must embark to effectively run their centers. Additionally, the authors explore ways to use their contingent statuses as leverage for either tenure or promotion by linking their scholarly work to departmental and university tenure/promotion requirements.

Severe Constraints, Radical Possibilities: Reimagining Critical Pedagogy In The First-Year Writing Class, Elia Benjamin Newsom

Wayne State University Dissertations

Critical pedagogues often bring political questions into the classroom and seek to disassemble the very paternalistic, repressive nature of education itself. However, while these scholars and the texts they write are well-intentioned, the possibility of achieving political goals in a first-year writing class are severely constrained by forces within and outside an instructor's control: committees, composition directors, university administration, state & federal governments, economic & social conditions, etc. That said, looking at the material history of writing studies, there have been moments of radical possibility, opportunities to fundamentally change the status quo for the better. In this dissertation, I argue …

Comfort, Contingency, And Writing Center Work: An Essay In Three Illusions, Loren Maria Guay

The Writing Center Journal

In this hybrid essay, I engage creatively with the illusory nature of contingent work, presenting three episodes from my personal experiences as a contingent writing program administrator (WPA) during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, I interrogate these experiences by building on past critiques of “comfortable” writing centers, applying Sara Ahmed’s work on the affectiveness of (dis)comfort in order to examine comfort and its uneasy relationship with labor. For whom is the writing center expected to labor to provide comfort? Whose comfort, and moreover whose safety, is jeopardized or made invisible in the process? In answering these questions, this …

Conceptual Metaphor Usage In Glenn Youngkin’S 2021 Gubernatorial Campaign, Sara Rose Hotaling

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

In “Conceptual Metaphor in Everyday Language,” Lakoff and Johnson suggest that conceptual metaphors pervade everyday language and produce the reality of our world. Conceptual metaphors act similarly within the occupational register of political campaigns in that they both support and construct a set of beliefs that become the reality of politicians, political parties, and constituents. In this language research, the conceptual metaphors employed by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin during his 2021 gubernatorial campaign were identified, analyzed, and categorized. The corpus of this research consists of two gubernatorial debates, three campaign speeches, and one television interview. An example of conceptual metaphor …

Ronald Reagan And War Rhetoric In The 20th Century, Allister Dias

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

This paper contributes to a deeper understanding about the nature of Cold War-era rhetoric and how President Ronald Reagan was able to utilize it to bring about the end of the Soviet era. To analyze this particular topic, I compared various academic explorations into what rhetoric devices defined the Cold War era and how President Reagan was able to craft a unique way to appeal to the people of both West and East Germany. Additionally, I consulted historians in the field of presidential speech to identify any rhetorical constructs employed through the speech. My research points to a positive correlation …

The Undergraduate Spectrum 2023, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Undergraduate Spectrum

No abstract provided.

The Flight Attendants Of Academia: Liminality, Emotional Labor, And Feminization In Graduate Student Writing Program Administrators, Laura Vidal Chiesa

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Writing Program Administration (WPA) is an interdisciplinary field that addresses the management and development of writing programs in educational institutions. WPA entails writing instruction pedagogy, curriculum design, assessment, and faculty development pertaining to the teaching of writing. Graduate students in Humanities and English-based programs typically fill this position which can offer a career trajectory. However, the position is often experienced as demanding, unrewarding and does not deliver on the career-enhancing experience it seems to promise. Historically, this is unsurprising given that the position has been a subordinated role occupied by women in composition. And yet, the troubles besetting contemporary graduate …

The Association Of Vitamin D, Bone Mineral Density, And Injuries Among Acrobatics And Tumbling Athletes, K Lee, A Gallucci, J Forsse, L Cherpe De Souza, L Irvin, E Boyer, L Funderburk

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

Introduction: Acrobatics and Tumbling (A&T) is an emerging sport incorporating various elements of gymnastics and competitive cheerleading. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the sport presents with high injury rates potentially due to the high impact nature of the activity. Due to the potential aesthetic sport related concerns, bone mineral density and risk of injury presents a concern for patients, athletic trainers and stakeholders. Increased understanding of the relationship between bone mineral density, serum vitamin D status, and injury incidence in A&T may be useful to athletic trainers, registered dietitians, and others working with these athletes. The objective of this study was …

The Influences Of The Religious Tradition Of Ramadan On Dietary Intake And Body Composition In Adolescent Athletes: An Evidence-To-Practice Review, Regina A. Duncan, Shannon E. Ryan, Erin M. Watlington, Nancy A. Uriegas, Zachary K. Winkelmann

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

When participating in the religious tradition of Ramadan, the body is subject to changes that adjust an athlete's regimented dietary intake. The guiding systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to gather the results of the limited research on the effect of Ramadan observance on body mass, body composition, and dietary intake in adolescent athletes. Data were extracted from two different databases, and a search through several journals exploring body mass and/or body composition and/or dietary intake was conducted. The methodological quality of each study was assessed via QualSyst. No significant differences were found when comparing the body mass, body composition, …

Bibliography, Jane Fife

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Jane Fife.

In Whitman's Wake, Kacie Megan Fodness

Dissertations and Theses

In Whitman’s Wake argues that nineteenth-century American writing includes a living invitation for its future readers. The kind of invitational writing prioritized in this work has not yet been fully accounted for in literary criticism. What’s more, even when we as readers have experienced such an invitation (one we feel is for us) we have not followed the feeling far enough. As a result, scholarship has largely neglected, and perhaps has consciously rejected, the intentional action of a writer that creates an encounter with their future reader. My project contributes to the ongoing critical conversation around the relationship of readers …

Teaching The Past To Protect The Future: Degenerate Art As A Modern-Day Cultural Warning, Cheryl Hogue Smith

Publications and Research

This chapter outlines how students who previously weren’t paying attention to the rampant antisemitism and racism embedded within American culture and systems see how the 20th century Degenerate Art Exhibition acts as a lesson against a racial nationalism that is attempting to take over the country.

Time As A “Built-In Headwind”: The Disparate Impact Of Portfolio Cross-Assessment On Black Tyc Students, Annie M. Del Principe

Publications and Research

This study of a departmental portfolio cross-assessment practice sheds light on factors that appear to influence assessment outcomes for Black students and helps to tease out some of the reasons why this assessment ecosystem has a disparate impact on these students. The findings, drawn from student outcomes data and student survey data, suggest that it isn’t only, or even primarily, Black students’ linguistic variety that leads to higher failure rates. The writing qualities most commonly flagged on Black students’ failing portfolios are likely related to the very different material conditions in which they write their papers. These conditions challenge the …

The Rhetorical Art Of Risk Assessment: Lessons From Risk Management In Rural And Tribal Communities, John L. Velat

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Risk assessment, mitigation, and communication rely on data from multiple sources to form a complete understanding of hazards and how to manage them. Experts can use these data to make informed decisions about the nature and extent of risks and inform the public to protect health, the environment, and economic welfare. However, in an effort to objectively make decisions, technical experts and policymakers increasingly rely on quantitative data as the most important determiner of risk, which can alienate the public, limit risk understanding, and delay or miss obvious signals of impending catastrophe. I examine several cases based on my experiences …