Rhetoric Commons^™

Writing And Rhetoric Along The U.S.-Mexico Border, Barry Thatcher, Kelly Medina-López, Omar Montoya

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Recently, our field has seen a strong surge in the interest in writing across borders, multilingual and ESL writing, and globalization and rhetoric (see, for example, the 2010 Penn State Conference on Border Rhetorics; 2014 Border Rhetorics, Rhetoric Society of America). This surge parallels, in many ways, the growing enrollment of international student populations and second-language writers in U.S. writing programs, which is widely documented (Roberge, Siegal, & Harlau, 2009; Matsuda, 2009). Given this development, it would seem appropriate or even natural that writing programs would be developing curriculum to meet the needs of these multilingual students. In fact, that …

Singapore’S Quarantine Rhetoric And Human Rights In Emergency Health Risks, Huiling Ding, Elizabeth A. Pitts

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) began spreading in Asia in March 2003, many affected countries and areas scrambled to mobilize public health resources and rushed to find effective ways to contain the virus within their territories. In late March and April of the same year, the World Health Organization (WHO) added numerous East and Southeast Asian countries and regions to its list of areas affected by SARS: mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan. Singapore was among the first countries to eradicate SARS and was taken off the WHO list on May 30, 2003.

The Rhetoric Of Parody And Persona: The Rhetorical Construction Of Donald Trump Through Parody In The 2016 Election, James Lyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this dissertation is to explore the rhetorical nature of parody in the context of the American electoral process. This work draws on existing research in the field to show how humor is an important method for engaging the public sphere. This project develops the rhetorical nature of humor, works through existing research on conceptualizations of humor and its importance for societal dialogue, and then addresses the specific contributions to the study of parody offered by Mikhail Bakhtin and Kenneth Burke to demonstrate the potential for parody to act as a form of rhetorical illumination of existing rhetorical …

Building A (Great) Wall: A Semiotic Analysis Of The Rhetoric Of President Donald J. Trump, Lauren Gilmore

Honors Theses

When Donald J. Trump announced he was running for president of the United States, the country was thrown into division. He was an abnormality as a presidential candidate and a rhetorical oddity since so many of his messages were ones of ignorance and bigotry rather than understanding and inclusion, the expected rhetoric of a president. Through a semiotic analysis, this study aims to understand who the people were that supported Trump, why his rhetoric appealed to them, the ways in which Trump talked about America and its people, and how his supporters interpreted his language. Semiotics is the study of …

The Rhetorical Mediator: Understanding Agency In Indigenous Translation And Interpretation Through Indigenous Approaches To Ux, Nora Karina Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In 2018, I became involved in a collaborative community-based project to co-organize an event with the purpose of collecting resources to help in the professionalization efforts of Indigenous translators and interpreters. Drawing on Indigenous and decolonial theories, this interdisciplinary study examines the work done during this event through a user experience (UX) research lens that analyzes the various ways in which Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) and Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) can better support Indigenous language practices. The colonization of the Americas brought a layer of issues that continue to affect the way in which Indigenous communities conduct their …

The Role Of Translation In Multilingual User Experience, Tetyana Zhyvotovska

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Examining the intersections of technical communication, user experience, and translation, this study focused on the contexts of a user experience (UX) research center as a site where these intersections occurred and on practices of multilingual users while encountering translated information. In order to explore translation practices in relation to UX and cover the gap in understanding multilingual UX, the study examined how multilingual users worked with translated content, how they acted and reacted to it, and what they experienced during this process. Based on the existing scholarship in translation and usability studies in technical communication, this Dissertation undertook empirical research …

Inventing A Space To Speak: Ethos, Agency And United States’ Woman Suffrage Cookbooks (1886-1916), Danielle Nielsen

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

During the last forty years of the United States’ fight for woman suffrage, a handful of suffragists wrote cookbooks sponsored by suffrage organisations. These cookbooks created a rhetorical space and ethos within and through the kitchen. Because their activism was grounded in expected feminine actions, this home-bound ethos allowed the primarily white, middle-class suffragists to simultaneously advocate for women’s suffrage in public and maintain their adherence to the Cult of True Womanhood. The arguments put forth in the cookbooks illustrate an ethos that is influenced by both personal agency and the rhetor’s gendered, physical location in the kitchen. From this …

Mental Illness Diagnosis And The Construction Of Stigma, Katie Lynn Walkup

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how mental health legislation and related policy documents contribute to identification, diagnosis, and stigmatization. Using a mixed methods approach including content and stylometric text analysis with R as a heuristic for close and critical reading, I demonstrate how these documents normalize mental health concerns as a public threat. To do this work, I analyze how the Florida Mental Health Act (Chapter 394) and the Florida Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act (SB 7026) circulate and sustain dominant narratives about mental illness. I trace where these narratives are distributed into Florida school districts’ mandatory mental health …

Intimate Rhetorics Of Networked Motherhood, Katie Nelson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fundamentally pregnant bodies are understood, similarly to women’s bodies, as necessitating discipline. However, new networked forums have emerged where pregnancy is understood as affirming and having the capacity to challenge a silenced subject position. Using three case studies, the #IHadAMiscarriage Instagram page, the #TakeBackPostpartum Instagram page, and mediatized discourses surrounding Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy, this dissertation writes intimate publicity into these mediatized transgressions of pregnancy and postpartum. I argue discourses about pregnancy and postpartum in these networked spaces constitute intimate publics through the cultivation of shared affected investments and divestments in embodied experiences. These investments in the embodied experiences are crafted …

"Will God Forgive Us?": Christianity And The Climate Crisis In Auteur Cinema, Margaret Alice Parson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change is an unavoidable and real catastrophic threat to the future of Planet Earth. This dissertation is interested in how contemporary auteur cinema draws on Christian forms to give expression to the ineffability of environmental collapse. In this rhetorical generic criticism, I discuss three recent auteur films: First Reformed (2017, directed by Paul Schrader), Interstellar (2014, directed by Christopher Nolan), and mother! (2017, directed by Darren Aronofsky). In order to best rhetorically analyze these films, I perform a generic criticism which utilizes aspects of psychoanalysis and affect theory as per the work of Gunn. Each film is …

Investigating Resilience Through The Rhetoric Of The Revolution, Leah Danielson

Conspectus Borealis

In this paper, I examine the relationship between Cuba's core values and the rhetoric used by revolutionary leaders. To do so, I frame my paper around two critical questions; how was it that revolutionary leaders created such a deep loyalty to their cause, and in what ways has that loyalty continued today? As such, I will investigate how the rhetorical choices exemplified in linguistic, visual, and other ethnographic observations, collected in a trip to Cuba in 2020, represent a Cuban society that continues these revolutionary characteristics as is carried out through themes of community identity and belongingness, a desire to …

Chinese Women’S Reproductive Justice And Digital Technologies, Hua Wang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

It is well known that China has implemented a Family Planning policy. Chinese women have limited options in reproduction, and their agency is constrained by the government, the medical institutions, and the traditional Chinese patriarchal and biased culture. By utilizing rhetorical analysis as a primary methodology with a focus on rhetorical agency, this dissertation analyzes two cases where digital technologies such as social media and apps facilitate users’ rhetorical agency to counter instances of reproductive injustice. First, I focus on China’s most popular pregnancy and mothering app, Babytree, to examine how the app rhetorically positions its users to enable empowerment …

Communication In The Ruins: Walker Percy And The Art Of Symbolic Mediation, Justin Bonanno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes to explore the mediating function of the symbol through the work of Walker Percy. In the first chapter, I provide the necessary background for undertaking this project. First, I situate Percy in his historical moment and review key events in his life that helped to shape his philosophy of communication. Second, I sketch out some of the primary coordinates in Percy’s thought. Percy’s hermeneutic of the self requires an understanding of the difference between sign and symbol, dyadic and triadic events, environment and world, and immanence and transcendence. Third, I review some of the key intersections with …

Powerful Men: An Evaluation Of Successful Rhetoric, Rachel Hollenbeck

Undergraduate Research Journal

This study examines the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill and why it was so successful. Both men are famous for their rhetoric, but this study is a more in-depth look at how they spoke well and influenced people. Through the lens of Lloyd F. Bitzer’s “The Rhetorical Situation” and the classical rhetorical appeals, multiple details of Hitler and Churchill’s speeches are brought to attention and analyzed, especially how their responses fit the situations they were facing, how they connected with their audiences, and how their wording matched the goals they were trying to achieve. One of the purposes …

Fighting For 504: Negotiating Hegemonic Ability Through Verbal Advocacy And Disabled Embodiment, Drew Finney

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In my thesis, I look at San Francisco’s 504 sit-in for disability rights. I argue that both the verbal advocacy and the embodied actions of protestors demonstrate that dis/ability is constructed through a hegemonic process. I contend that combating hegemonic understandings of disability creates a tension between being a counter hegemonic movement and desiring the benefits of hegemonic legibility. To make these arguments, my thesis draws several conclusions. I argue that activists enacted a civil- rights framework to communicate the need for Section 504 to the public. I explain that activists adopted the role of educator to address problematic ideas …

Providing Clear Directions And Explanations, Carol Damgen, Carol L. Damgen

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

Giving students an opportunity to do group work in a Public Speaking course allows for an exchange of ideas from various points of view. This activity based on Persuasive Speech can further the students understanding of the assignment in a safe collective.

Working as a team develops strong foundations from which to build a powerful argument based not only on value but factual claims. The outcome of this group activity encourages the steps of building a problem/solution organizational pattern presentation.

The hope of this assessment is to scaffold into a solo presentation building from what the learner has employed from …

Purposefully Forgetting: Surveying San Diego’S Founding Narrative During The City’S Bicentennial Celebrations Of 1969, Noah Pallmeyer

Keck Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows

The city of San Diego owes much its success and prosperity to the “victories associated with colonization.” This quote comes directly from the current National Park Service description of the San Diego Presidio. This project turns to the 1969 bicentennial celebrations of San Diego’s founding. This was a rhetorically powerful period in San Diego’s historical remembrance. This project argues that native and other marginalized populations were not properly considered in the narrative of San Diego’s founding during these celebrations. To understand why and how these populations failed to be properly considered, this project turns to the narratives of colonial monuments …

Friendship In The Digital Age: Implications From A Philosophy Of Communication Approach, Tiffany Petricini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Friendship is a central relationship-style that grounds us. Much of the literature on the effects of technology on our relationships, especially friendship, has taken a skeptical approach. The notion of friendship is historically-situated, thus, it requires attention in each era and has prompted questions throughout human history. Our time is no exception. Changing cultures and redefinitions of basic human institutions have led us to our current moment, in which we are experiencing a loud and continuing debate on the effect of technology on our lives. Advancements in science have allowed us to understand our past and present in new ways. …

Reconciling With Slavery In The United States: An Evolving Narrative, Jamie Phlegar

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This project addresses two strands of inquiry that spring from this issue of evolving race relations in the U.S. First, I examine how Americans talk about the history of slavery in the U.S. What rhetorical strategies are employed when slavery is discussed and/or debated in public history contexts and beyond? Second, I examine talk about the future of race relations in the context of the legacy of slavery. Specifically, I am interested in exploring what rhetorical strategies are employed when discussing the potential for reparations in mainstream arenas.

Thomas Kent's Paralogic Rhetoric As A Framework For Analyzing Corporate Social Responsibility Discourse, Donald E. Penner

English Department Theses

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) scholarship increasingly uses rhetorical theory as a method for analyzing contested meaning between communicants. However, the classical and social constructivist rhetorical theories typically used for analysis do not address the primary cause of contested meaning – relativism. Conversely, such theories often contribute to a dualistic worldview by utilizing internally imagined conceptual schemes for analyzing texts. This thesis proposes Thomas Kent’s paralogic rhetorical theory as an alternative method of analyzing CSR texts, and focuses on three common areas typically utilized in rhetorical analyses of CSR texts: text reception, the rhetorical situation, and genre. Where paradigmatic rhetorical theories …

Emotional Appeals In Nonprofit Advertising: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Print Ads By The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation And The American Cancer Society, Dominique N. A. Harrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emotional appeals are frequently employed in strategic messaging by nonprofit organizations. In this study, I identify instances of emotional appeals in select print adverts of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society, and use rhetorical analysis to explore how each organization’s tactics are strategic in their appeal to target audiences’ emotions. In doing so, I identify several reoccurring emotional themes—including hope, love, and unity—that engage their target audiences and persuade them to respond to diverse calls-to-action. In order to make these appeals to audience emotion, the adverts employ rhetorical devices such as personification, metaphor, repetition, …

Sustainable Hope: An Analysis Of The Rhetorical Process Of The Forward Through Ferguson Commission Report, Nicole Ramer

Theses

This project focuses on the Forward through Ferguson Report, a commission report written by appointed commissioners after the protests of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. While the first chapter of my thesis focuses on the report itself and commission reports as a genre, the second chapter analyzes the most recent report, the State of Police Reform, from an ecological lens. Throughout the project, I kept returning to the question Susan Wells posed in a recent interview with Composition Forum, revisiting one she first asked in her oft-cited 1996 essay: what do we want from public rhetoric …

Leveraging Maternal Rhetoric, Space, And Experience: La Leche League's Emergence As A Counterpublic, Jenny Lynn Moore

English Theses & Dissertations

For over six decades, the international, mother-to-mother breastfeeding support organization La Leche League (LLL) has been helping women breastfeed successfully. LLL was formed at a time when the dominant ideology of scientific motherhood framed mothers as obedient adherents to physicians’ strict guidelines, which encouraged bottle-feeding and discouraged close mother-child bonds. LLL has been credited with challenging scientific motherhood, transforming medical discourse and practices surrounding infant feeding, and prompting the medical professional to accept mothers’ active involvement in decision-making; yet, paradoxically, it has also constrained mothers by reducing women to their maternal biology, discouraging mothers from participating in the public sphere, …

Genesis: A False Start, Tate Kollar

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Genesis is the first book of the Bible. As the starting block for humanity and creation, Genesis holds incredible weight. Genesis is the beginning of God’s foundational text for his people. Intuitively, one would expect the content of the narratives in Genesis to reflect this weight. One would expect models for human behavior. One would think it would be the first step on the path to redemption from the Fall in the garden. One would expect God to help his people in creating safe, efficient, supportive, functional communities and families. Contrary to these expectations, a majority of the Genesis narrative …

9/11 Then And Now: How The Performance Of Memorial Rhetoric By Presidents Changes To Construct Heroes, Kristen M. Grafton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is concerned with American presidential rhetoric at the cross-section of hero rhetoric and memorial address. It analyzes presidential memorialization of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. 9/11 is arguably the most significant tragedy in recent American history. The purpose of this study is to identify the type of hero each president since 9/11 has attempted to construct of himself for the public and discuss the rationale behind that hero construction. To complete this objective, I analyze the second 9/11 memorial speech from the presidencies of Bush, Obama, and Trump for hero construction. A close reading examining the …

Instrumentalization Theory: An Analytical Heuristic For A Heightened Social Awareness Of Machine Learning Algorithms In Social Media, Andrew R. Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

New innovations in information management and communication technologies have produced technological assemblages which have radically altered the way people socialize and interact with the world. The most significant and ubiquitous of these technologies is what is colloquially referred to as ‘machine learning.’ Like most, if not all, technologies, machine learning models are neither wholly good nor bad. Their functional ethics are largely determined by the context in which they are employed. However, their ubiquity demands that we develop a heightened social consciousness of the way machine learning simultaneous constrains, manipulates and democratizes social processes. In order to develop better social …

"The Fiery Furnaces Of Hell": Rhetorical Dynamism In Youngstown, Oh, Joshua M. Rea

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to define the theory of rhetorical dynamism and illustrate how this theory can be applied to studies of rhetoric and place. The study builds on current rhetorical scholarship and adds to it with the four characteristics of rhetorical dynamism: that places are rhetorically invented, that they hold rhetorical tensions, that they are fluid and constantly evolving, and that they are active participants in a reciprocal rhetorical process. Rhetorical dynamism is illustrated in two places, Westlake Terrace and Idora Park, each in Youngstown, OH. By building a rhetorical history of each site, the study shows how each place …

Full Disclosure / Now What?, Daniel P. Richards

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Politics, Praxis, And Performativity Of Teacher Neutrality, Daniel P. Richards

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Small Beginnings To Large-Scale Harm: On Demagoguery And Misogyny In The Classroom And Writing Center, Shannon Roberson

Theses and Dissertations

My project is grounded in the rhetorical concept of aretê—excellence or virtue—as it relates to education and educational spaces within demagogic and misogynist cultural forces. The problems of demagoguery and misogyny stem from small-scale perpetuation of agonistic norms that go unaddressed in U.S. culture, a culture that is deeply identity-driven. These forces persist on social media platforms and within patriarchal systems of education.

For my project, I suggest rhetorical media literacy education of small-scale demagoguery moments on social media as a way to bring awareness to larger-scale events. On a micro-scale, social media influencers cultivate behaviors that mimic demagogic …