Rhetoric Commons^™

Persuasion In Antiquity: A Content Analysis Of Ptahhotep’S Maxims And Lao Tzŭ’S Tao Te Ching, Joel Skelton

Theses

This study investigated persuasive strategies used in ancient Egypt and ancient China. In an effort to attain a better understanding of the utilization of persuasive tools from these two ancient societies, this study was completed by examining Ptahhotep's Maxims from Egypt and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching from China. A thematic analysis revealed the most common themes found in Ptahhotep's Maxims (e.g., humility) and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (e.g., comparison). A content analysis examined persuasive tactics within passages of both texts. It was found that Ptahhotep principally utilized negative expertise and loss-framed messages while Lao Tzu utilized positive expertise …

Lakoff’S Theory Of Moral Reasoning In Presidential Campaign Advertisements, 1952–2012, Damien S. Pfister, Jessy J. Ohl, Marty Nader, Dana Griffin

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study examines the presence and distribution of George Lakoff’s Strict Father and Nurturant Parent paradigms of moral reasoning in presidential campaign advertisements between 1952 and 2012. Results show that Republicans outpace Democrats in the general use of moral reasoning and that Republicans are far more likely to use Strict Father language than Democrats. The study found no difference in the use of Strict Father= Nurturant Parent morality throughout history, during times of war and recession, or if the candidate was an incumbent. The Strict Father and Nurturant Parent models of moral reasoning were also evaluated based on their relationship …

Dispatches From Summer Camp: Literacies Of Suds And Scam, Cori Brewster

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

Rhetorical analysis of a collection of kowtowing letters written by summer camp counselors and campers, arguing that they provide a useful window into youth literacy development and conditions that foster socially-engaged, critically literate practice.

10 And Counting..., Harlot Editors

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

No abstract provided.

#Definerhetoric 2013, Harlot Editors

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

No abstract provided.

Call For Submissions: The Digital Activism Issue, Ben Mccorkle, Jason Palmeri

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

No abstract provided.

The Image-World: A Found Comic Poem, Franny Howes

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

The text of this comic is excerpted entirely from Susan Sontag's essay, "The Image World," from her 1977 book On Photography. I was assigned to read and respond to this piece when I attended the Adventure School for Ladies Comics Intensive, an alternative graduate program focused on gender, labor, and the comics industry.Sontag's essay critiques the way contemporary western culture uses photography for "imprisoning reality" and "depersonalizing our relation to the world." Photography creates another reality by the physical impression of light on film: what she calls the "image world." The idea of a separate and additive reality created through …

The 5-Sided Lego, Hanna Barker, Shawn Beaumont

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

The study of rhetoric usually concerns itself with analysis of discourse more clearly identifiable as a text, but often overlooked is how apparently non-textual elements may shape our own personal narratives. However, rhetorical theory can indeed be applied to something like LEGO, that beyond marketing and branding, most people do not immediately consider textual. Ultimately by using the Burkeian pentad as a terministic screen, this project aims to determine how the act of playing with LEGO, and even the LEGO brick itself, serve to construct realities, and how those realities impact our own.

Sisyphus Rolls On: Reframing Women's Ways Of “Making It” In Rhetoric And Composition, Kristin Bivens, Martha Mckay Canter, Kirsti Cole, Violet Dutcher, Morgan Gresham, Luisa Rodriguez-Connal, Eileen Schell

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

This is a multi-vocal, multi-institutional piece that examines ways women "make it" in rhetoric and composition. It is in the spirit of being more inclusive that we present our ideas about women's ways of making it in rhetoric and composition. This inclusiveness includes a written transcript of our audio narratives. Humbly, we present our work in this piece after four years of writing and revising in the work spaces we all know so well and offer several glimpses of the work women do as writing teachers. We honor all of the women who teach writing -- those who have made …

Inexorable Burden: Rhetoric And Togetherness, Ethan Sproat Mckay

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation employs philology and cultural analysis to reassess longstanding notions in rhetorical theory and moral philosophy (via classical rhetoric and technical communication). In particular, I use diachronic analyses of the terms telos, symbouleutikon, and sympheron (from Aristotle to present) as a theoretical springboard to reassess more contemporary issues in rhetoric and technical communication. The technical communication topics this dissertation covers include criticisms of expediency as a motive in technical communication; the changing landscape of instruction manual composition; the role of purpose-completion and stakeholder awareness in visual rhetoric; and the futility of advancing ideology-free technical writing pedagogies. More theoretical topics …

A New Field Of Dreams: A Study Of The Writing Major, T J Geiger

Writing Program – Dissertations

Within Writing Studies, the tension between pedagogy and theory, between teaching and disciplinary status receives much commentary. This dissertation explores that tension within the context of the undergraduate Writing major. I begin by reviewing scholarship about advanced composition, advanced Writing, and the Writing major. I read this literature in light of concerns about student subjectivity, authorship, and disciplinary participation. Through that reading, I explore the conflicted status of the student subject imagined within this literature. The subject I discern contains elements of what Susan Miller describes as the normative subject of composition as well as elements of a revised and …

The Piratical Ethos: Textual Activity And Intellectual Property In Digital Environments, Justin A. Lewis

Writing Program – Dissertations

The Piratical Ethos: Textual Activity and Intellectual Property in Digital Environments examines the definition, function, and application of intellectual property in contexts of electronically mediated social production. With a focus on immaterial production - or the forms of coordinated social activity employed to produce knowledge and information in the networked information economy - this project ultimately aims to demonstrate how current intellectual property paradigms must be rearticulated for an age of digital (re)production. By considering the themes of "Piracy", "Intellectual Property", and "Distributed Social Production" this dissertation provides an overview of the current state of peer production and intellectual property …

Contentious Conversations, Missing Voices: The Ongoing Debate About Style, Megan Yates Grizzle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As I began to investigate the concept of style in Composition curriculums, I quickly realized two things: style is difficult to define, and student input about style is virtually absent from the previous scholarship on style theory and pedagogy. This project, therefore, does not seek to end the debate about style. It seeks to do exactly the opposite. I want to extend the ongoing conversation about style even further, this time to include student voices. My project seeks to triangulate discussions about style to include voices from scholars, practitioners, and students. Students are too often an afterthought, receiving instruction based …

The Residual Resistance Of The Individual Within The Rhizomatic Hegemony Of The Internet, Emma Katherine Wolfe

English Theses & Dissertations

Networked cyborgs that exist within the non-hierarchical rhizomatic network of the Internet risk losing the concept of their individuality as our identity becomes less important than the group. However, if the rhizomatic network is thought of as a hegemony that exists on the Internet, we can resist this through the residual notion of individual identity. Since cyborgs must perform in order to exist on the rhizomatic network, they can become aware of and perform their individuality through awareness of the computer medium. There are three methods for networked cyborgs to assert their individuality discussed in this thesis.

The first is …

Exploring Metaphor In The Great Gatsby, Dan Gleason

The Great Gatsby Unit

In this lesson, students engage with one approach to metaphor and then apply that learning to metaphors in Great Gatsby. To start, students learn about I. A. Richards’s definition of metaphor as the link between tenor (topic) and vehicle (way of thinking about it). They then generate some metaphors by randomly combining tenors and vehicles in order to understand how the parts interrelate. Finally, the class interacts with the messier, more beautiful face of metaphor by working through, in groups, some key metaphors from the novel. Students identify the components of each metaphor (tenor, vehicle) and also consider what subtle …

Visual Rhetoric Through The Years, Leah Kind

Rhetoric Unit

This exercise gives students an introduction to some of the language and terminology of visual rhetoric in a brief teacher-guided discussion. Following the discussion, students, in small groups, will find both a vintage print advertisement and a current print ad within the same general category and examine how different forms of appeals have evolved through time, how ads now target their specific audiences, and, in general, how ads have changed, and why. Groups will present their findings to the class. Having the opportunity to see what in advertising has changed (as well as what has not changed) will allow students …

(Re)Constructing A Landmark: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Brown V Board Of Education At Fifty, Christine A. Geyet

Writing Program – Dissertations

This dissertation examines the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary with emphasis on its civic and social rhetorical functions. The analysis focuses on the two week period leading up to the fiftieth anniversary and the dedication of the Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka. Data was gathered from various web sites related to the National Historic Site and the events in Topeka on the weekend it was dedicated, and from database records of national and international news sources. These materials were analyzed in three categories beginning with the …

President Barack Obama And The Commencement Of A New Perspective On Epideictic Speeches, Milene Ortega Ribeiro

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Commencement speakers are typically expected to praise students and motivate them. When the commencement speaker is a President, the expectation is different. This thesis investigated the functions of epideictic address in light of the rhetorical presidency doctrine. Close textual analysis of the three most controversial commencement speeches delivered by President Barack Obama revealed that the challenge of fulfilling the expectations of a commencement address, while responding to rhetorical problems, required the President to adopt complex rhetorical strategies. The predominant strategies included humor, strategic use of rhetorical presence, and ideological identification. The President used strategies that allowed him to be the …

Schulz's Religion: Exploring Faith In The Mainstream Media Through The Peanuts Franchise, Stephen James Lind

All Dissertations

This dissertation is an exploration of various theoretical and cultural issues surrounding depictions of religion and spirituality in mainstream entertainment media properties. Such portrayals cultivate particular cultural norms that dictate the conditions of public and private discourse on religion, and in this study, these issues are approached through a mixed-method study guided by the Peanuts franchise. The Peanuts franchise is a provocatively rich launching point for analysis of dominant media cultures, given its colossal success in the secular mainstream entertainment industry and its explicit references to and even affirmations of Christian theology. Throughout the study, the references to religion manifested …

Finding Nowhere, Nathan Edwards

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

My audio/visual presentation, Nowhere, was a personal challenge to create a persuasive yet openly-interpretable message through a fully non-narrative presentation, leaving focus purely on the sound design, visual imagery, and the interaction between the two.The presentation and accompanying article explore questions surrounding the ways in which an artistic medium effects how our senses absorb an artistic presentation and how a message is most effectively conveyed.

Two Sound Pieces, Keith Dorwick

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

These two sound works gathered here ("At the Edge of Sleep" and "For Voices, No Longer Human") were assembled out of ordinary, even mundane sounds. In each, I slowed down the tempo of the original sound cues such as a cat eating kibbles or a voice uttering nonsense. Further manipulation of the sounds to make entirely new pieces created abstract sound landscapes, if you will, that take on (I hope) a mythic quality far removed from their original sources. In the case of "For Voices, No Longer Human," Harlot's review process resulted in a whole new (and much stronger) work, …

Sonic Rhetorics: A Mashed-Up Introduction In Sound, Jon Stone, Steph Ceraso

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

Welcome to the special-themed Sonic Rhetorics issue of Harlot. Putting this issue together was a thoroughly collaborative process that involved a lot of back and forth with authors about their work, creative visions, and sonic rhetorics. For months we have been sounding out, experimenting with, and synthesizing these pieces until they seemed to hit the right note. So, rather than giving an authoratative summary of individual pieces, we thought it made more sense for contributors to speak (and sound) for themselves--and together. When you press play, you will hear a mashup of the sounds and soundbites from many of this …

Audiobiography: A Sonic Memoir Of The 1960s, John F. Barber

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

This essay and its accompanying sound file speak to a personal narrative of the author's life in the 1960s, a time of tremendous social, political, and cultural change. By creating a narrative of his life at the time, sampled from period radio and television reports/programs, the author attempts to recreate the rhetorical context of his life at that time. The desired end result is a personal narrative with a broader appeal. Not a typical radio documentary, however, nor a narrated history, the intent of Sounds of My Life: A sixties radio narrative is instead to remix the medium of its …

Making Meaning In Musical Mixes, Kyle D. Stedman

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

SIDE A

Growing Meanings :: From Arrangement... :: ...To Development :: This Project :: My Mix

SIDE B

Developing Sounds :: Developing Expectations :: Digital Tools :: Developing Moods :: Transitions Developing Ideas/Voices :: The Self as Audience :: Fulfilling Promises :: Conclusions for Mix-Makers :: Credits

This piece explores the musical rhetorics at work in a mix CD I created for two (at times contrasting) purposes: as a gift for friends, and as an accompaniment in the car as I moved across the country. I suggest that in a linear, musical mix, the term "development" as used in music …

Recitative: The Persuasive Tenor Of Jazz Culture In Langston Hughes, Billy Strayhorn, And John Coltrane, Andrew Vogel

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

Jazz is more than music. Jazz is a culture defined by a progressive ethos encoded in sound. By putting the poetry and music of Langston Hughes, Billy Strayhorn, and John Coltrane into conversation, this essay demonstrates the versatility and vitality of jazz culture. However, jazz culture has come to be drowned out in America today, and so I argue for a return to the voices of jazz's past so that we can give a new ear to jazz artists working today. Such listening should be seen as a means to reinvigorate progressive values today and in the future.

The Oral Aural Walter Ong, Abigail Lambke

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

This is a transcription of Abigail Lambke's words during the audio piece “The Oral Aural Walter Ong." During the piece, Abigail intersperses her own commentary with excerpts from two of Ong's recorded lectures: “The End of the Age of Literacy," and “The Future of Literacy." Walter Ong explicitly barred transcription of one of these lectures, exclusively granting permission for the piece to be reproduced in audio. To honor that request, none of Ong's words will be transcribed here. The Oral Aural Walter Ong Music: Kevin MacLeod “Peace Of Mind" Hello. I am Abigail Lambke and this is “The Oral Aural …

"The Quiet, Wintry North": Digital Folk Of The Upper Peninsula, Dan W. Lawrence

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

In America's most "remote" of locations, a digital-centric music scene flourishes. But it's not electronic music that the folk of Michigan's wintry Upper Peninsula find interest in: it's a rootsy, quiet, lo-fi, experimental Americana that is self-produced and self-distributed. With no major venues or recording studies, and not even a well-founded independent record label, musicians of the Upper Peninsula turn to the Internet to organize musical performances and events, plan collaborative recording sessions using limited resources, and share their thoughtful, introspective music. The author reflects on these issues of independent folk music and self-production, as well as the digitization of …

The Readability Of Historical And Modern Writing, Sophia Chong

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This research explores the difference in readability of historical and modern writing. The goal of this project is to determine if modern academic rhetoric is easier to comprehend than a historical primary source about the same topic. This has been done using a variety of quantitative methods widely used to analyze the accessibility of writings to compare sections of “The Confederate Reader” by Richard B. Harwell. Upon examination, it can be seen that despite the widely perceived convenience in comprehending modern writing that in fact, a primary Civil War period source is more readable than its current day academic counterpart.

Nietzsche’S Zarathustra And Parodic Style: On Lucian’S Hyperanthropos And Nietzsche’S Übermensch, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

It is well-known that as a term, Nietzsche’s Übermensch derives from Lucian of Samosata’s hyperanthropos. I argue that Zarathustra’s teaching of the overman acquires new resonances by reflecting on the context of that origination from Lucian’s Kataplous – literally, “sailing into port” – referring to the soul’s journey (ferried by Charon, guided by Hermes) into the afterlife. The Kataplous he tyrannos, usually translated Downward Journey or The Tyrant, is a Menippean satire of the “overman” who is imagined to be superior to others of “lesser” station in this-worldly life and the same tyrant after his (comically unwilling) …

19th Century American Rhetoric: Figures, Techniques, And Informational Texts, Adam Kotlarczyk

Rhetoric Unit

Ward Farnsworth writes in his 2011Classical English Rhetoric “figures sound splendid when used to say things worth saying,” and nineteenth century Americans, it seems, had many things worth saying. The nineteenth century was a high-water mark for oral and written rhetoric in English; this was especially true in America. Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison wrote eloquently and passionately on abolition, even as the nation plunged into Civil War. Abraham Lincoln articulated his vision for the reunification of a country shattered by that war, while Henry David Thoreau explained the ethical need for the occasional disobedience to civil law …