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Civil Rights and Discrimination

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Selected Works

2015

Rhetoric

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Democracy's Handmaid, Robert Tsai Mar 2015

Democracy's Handmaid, Robert Tsai

Robert L. Tsai

Democratic theory presupposes open channels of dialogue, but focuses almost exclusively on matters of institutional design writ large. The philosophy of language explicates linguistic infrastructure, but often avoids exploring the political significance of its findings. In this Article, Tsai draws from the two disciplines to reach new insights about the democracy enhancing qualities of popular constitutional language. Employing examples from the founding era, the struggle for black civil rights, the religious awakening of the last two decades, and the search for gay equality, he presents a model of constitutional dialogue that emphasizes common modalities and mobilized vernacular. According to this …


Ncaa Athletes, Unpaid Interns And The S-Word: Exploring The Rhetorical Impact Of The Language Of Slavery, Maria Ontiveros Dec 2014

Ncaa Athletes, Unpaid Interns And The S-Word: Exploring The Rhetorical Impact Of The Language Of Slavery, Maria Ontiveros

Maria L. Ontiveros

This essay presents initial results of a literature survey that explored the use of the rhetoric of slavery by workers' rights groups. It presents quantitative results for uses of terms such as slave, slavery, modern day slavery, plantation, Jim Crow and Juan Crow as these terms were used by immigrant worker advocates, opponents of labor trafficking, advocates for unpaid interns, National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes, professional athletes and in the context of prison labor. The essay also provides a qualitative analysis of how these terms were used by NCAA athletes and unpaid interns and a discussion of the criticism leveled …