Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

The Future Is Full Of Monsters: Queer Survival One Click At A Twine, 'Aolani N. Robinson

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Spurred by a desire to explore queer rhetoric through interactive forms of media, this project analyzed the game-making program Twine to uncover how independent queer creators use the tool to explore queer survival against time, capitalism, and constrained identities. A more accessible platform than other game-making tools, Twine’s unique interactivity puts the ability to make interactive games and stories into the hands of indie marginalized creators who are often overlooked in both mainstream gaming and queer rhetorics (Anthropy, 2012). Thus, this thesis contributes to queer rhetoric, game studies, and trans rhetorics by exploring the strategies indie Twine creators use in …

Theological Practices For Sustaining Community Renewal At Speedway Church Of Christ, Kent A. Ellett

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project assembled a group of potential small-group facilitators for the purpose of drafting a small-group discussion guide to be used at the Speedway (Indiana) Church of Christ. The guide was intended to aid the discernment of missional practices which sustain the renewal of the wider community. Focusing on the Gospel of John, the intervention attempted to recover a temple Christology, construing the incarnation, ministry, death, and the lifting up of Jesus within the larger story of the temple’s ongoing re-creation of the world. In bestowing his glory upon the church, Jesus sends the church into all the world, as …

Approaching Trans Debates As Fascistic Sites Of Engagement., Sarah Jump

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past decade, trans rights issues have been a legal topic of discussion and are still discussed publicly in 2021. This thesis researched how arguments surrounding anti-trans issues were successful in the United States. The arguments surrounding these issues are important to study to see how they pass within society and if traditional rules of argumentation are changing. This thesis proposes that traditional dialectical argument is no longer occurring and has taken a post-dialectical turn. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the kinds of arguments used in these issues and build the case that they are evidence …

What An Ethics Of Discourse And Recognition Can Contribute To A Critical Theory Of Refugee Claim Adjudication: Reclaiming Epistemic Justice For Gender-Based Asylum Seekers, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Abstract: Using examples drawn from gender-based asylum cases, this chapter examines how far recognition theory (RT) and discourse theory (DT) can guide social criticism of the judicial processing of women’s applications for protection under the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and subsequent protocols and guidelines put forward by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). I argue that these theories can guide social criticism only when combined with other ethical approaches. In addition to humanitarian and human rights law, these theories must rely upon ideas drawn from distributive, compensatory, and epistemic justice. Drawing from recent …

"The Most Beautiful Thing In The World": A Rhetorical Analysis Of Relational Dialectics And Friendship In The Musical Kinky Boots, Adam Clayton Moyer, Valerie Lynn Schrader

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

In this article, we examine Kinky Boots, a musical that won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2013 and continues to win over audiences with its positive message about acceptance, as a rhetorical text through William K. Rawlins’ theoretical construct of relational dialectics regarding friendship. Through rhetorical criticism as a research method, we apply Rawlins’ concepts of political and personal friendships, as well as the dialectics of affection and instrumentality, expressiveness and protectiveness, judgment and acceptance, and the ideal and the real to examine notable relationships between characters in the musical. Specifically, we examine the relationships between Charlie and …

As Your Writing And Reading Teacher, Jean Prokott

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

AS YOUR WRITING & READING TEACHER, and as a poetry enthusiast (fangirl), I was thinking about you yesterday as I watched Amanda Gorman perform her poem at Biden's inauguration, and then I was really thinking about you, students, as I watched Anderson Cooper interview her last night. I hope so much that you heard the poem, and I would truly love for you to watch the interview: she talks about the task to write a poem, the feel of words over images, the research she did from history and culture to pull this poem together. It is a feat that …

My Interdisciplinary Perspective On Climate Change [Natural Sciences], Richa Gupta, Tuli Chatterji, Tao Chen, Rebecca Schwartz

Open Educational Resources

This assignment titled “My Interdisciplinary Perspective on Climate Change” was developed in Fall 2020 as the signature assignment of the STEM Learning Community LC50 for students enrolled in the Biology program of the Natural Sciences department, at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. The assignment targets Integrative Learning and Global Learning Core Competencies, and Digital/Oral Communication Abilities.

For this STEM Cluster, “Climate Change” is the shared theme that connects learning from the different disciplines and helps build students’ overall knowledge on an imperative issue that our planet currently faces. Work on this assignment entails a narrated digital student presentation on the various …

Critical Thinking As A Pedagogical Approach: Using Critical/Cultural Studies To Analyze Music Videos, Lukas John Pelliccio, Timothy Brown

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Teaching undergraduate students how to critically analyze a text is an important experience. However, it is not easy to do this because readings are often dense, and the process of writing and presenting a critique can be challenging for some students. In light of this, we have developed an assignment where students critically analyze music videos for their ideologies. In the assignment, students select three specific overt or latent content pieces from a music video and explain how those manifestations influence a particular ideology in a paper. Then they are asked to show the music video to their peers and …

The Grid: A Long-Form Exercise In Forensic Peer Coaching, C. Austin Mcdonald Ii, Andrew Boge

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

As directors of forensics grapple with thoughts of burnout or exiting the activity (Carmack & Holm, 2013), peer coaching practices may offer ways of relieving the well-documented coaching burden (Gill, 1990; Keefe, 1991; McDonald, 2001; Rogers & Rennels, 2008). We offer a long-form individual events team exercise called “The Grid” which aims to foster a culture of peer coaching, to reduce the need for coaches, and to encourage students to take ownership of their forensic event development.




The authors give full credit of The Grid's core ideas to the Gustavus Adolphus College forensics teams under the direction of Cadi Kadlecek …

Imaginative Rhetorical Invention In The 21st Century: An Analysis Of Afrofuturism And Black Utopian Thought In A Black Lady Sketch Show As An Avenue Toward Black Liberation, Natalie Weathers

Theses - ALL

Inspired by recent events following the deaths of unarmed Black bodies killed at the hands of police officers and white vigilante citizens (Griffith, 2020; Oppel, 2020; BBC, 2020) this thesis seeks to validate the seemingly impossible aspirations of Black struggle and liberation in attempt to dismantle white supremacist ideology and oppression. Grounded in rhetorical theory emphasizing the imagination and canon of invention alongside critical perspectives of Afrofuturism and Black utopian thought, this thesis demonstrates the liberatory power of the Black American imagination within the United States in the 21st century through an analysis of A Black Lady Sketch Show (2019).

Where The Sea Meets The Sky: A Fantasy-Theme Analysis Of H.P. Lovecraft's Celephaïs, Spencer J. Burke

Quest

Application of Rhetorical Methodologies

Research in progress for SPCH 1311: Introduction to Speech Communication

Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Warren

The following essay is a rhetorical criticism written as the final project for the Collin College Honors Introduction to Speech Communication course. This student’s essay utilizes Fantasy Theme Analysis to explore the rhetorical choices of H.P. Lovecraft in his short story Celephaïs. By examining the characters, settings, and actions within the narrative, both in isolation and in relation to each other, Lovecraft’s rhetorical vision is elucidated. Moreover, this essay analyzes if and how group cohesiveness is achieved via a process coined …

Propaganda Or Persuasion: A Multisite Case Study Analysis Of The Impact Of Museum Communications On American Public Trust, Devon Anna Mancini

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer (2021), public trust in information sources has drastically decreased in America, except for museums. Since museums have historically spread propaganda through their communications, this multisite case study analysis of three American museums, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Creation Museum, investigated how museum propaganda impacts public trust. After examining Twitter posts and responses to the three cases, findings showed that even when museums did not intentionally spread propaganda, audience interpretations still led to a fracturing of trust. Recommendations for the field were …

Civil Religion And The Second Amendment, Shivaun Corry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American approach to legal hermeneutics emerged from the covenant theology of the Puritans. American civil religion understands the Constitution to be based in natural laws: a secularized conception of God-given rights. To change the text would collapse the epistemological framework of the nation. When a nation sees its constitution as a sacred text, then the answer to contemporary problems cannot be to change that text; rather, it must be to return to the text with an even more fundamentalist hermeneutic. Both gun rights advocate Charlton Heston, and gun control advocate Barak Obama, argued their cases using a fundamentalist hermeneutic, …

Presidential Rhetoric And Media's Contribution To The Subjective Nature Of Truth In American Democracy, Bianca Miccolis

English Honors Theses

This thesis examines the role of media on the subjectivity of truth in presidential rhetoric and its ethical implications. In my three case studies, I find that there is some form of deception by each president in their chosen form of media. I analyze Roosevelt’s use of the radio, which he uses to hide his disability and gain more executive power to combat the Great Depression. I examine Reagan’s use of television and how he fabricates an intimate relationship with the American people to enact tax reform. Finally, I investigate Trump’s use of Twitter to deflect negative publicity as he …

'Why Do They Make Her Wear That?': A Rhetorical Analysis Of Ramy Youssef: Feelings, Rania Zaied

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Muslims have often been portrayed in the media, as violent, barbaric, terrorists, and powerless victims, along with many other misconceptions of negative and stereotypical images. Ramy Youssef: Feelings (2019), is an hour-long stand-up comedy special presented by comic Ramy Youssef, who is a Muslim millennial Egyptian-American man. By conducting a rhetorical analysis of the special, this research combines the method of Critical Rhetoric with two of Lowery and Renegar’s (2016) three frameworks, those being Bicultural Otherness and Self and Culture Deprecating Humor, to analyze Youssef’s comedy special Feelings (2019). This research delineates how the media influences the rhetoric of Muslim …

Ecofascist “Snakeoil” And The Imperative Of Racializing Environmental Justice For The 21st Century: A Burkean Rhetorical Criticism Of Contemporary Ecofascist Manifestos, Lantz Shifflett

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Ecofascism of the 21^st century is a revival of centuries-old white nationalist fascism integrated with a concern for environmental issues from the last few decades. Designated by their writers as “manifestos,” three ecofascists have widely disseminated their documents online just before committing acts of racially motivated terrorism in three different countries. Furthermore, these manifestos provide a lens into contemporary ecofascist conspiracies as well as their own concocted “snakeoils” that present their ecofascist agendas in the form of rhetorical “curatives” to environmental issues of pollution. These “cures” are grounded in a new “green nationalism” that attempts to disguise the white …

Ancestral Pursuits: A Multicultural Celebration Of Identity & Race, Charlotte Cates Castro

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using critical historical rhetorical methods along with critical race and decolonial theory, this project situates ancestral pursuits as a communication-centered discursive formation by investigating the rhetorical strategies modern biotech and genealogy companies utilize to influence contemporary discourse around identity and belonging and narrate ethnicity and genealogy as acts of consumption. Through direct-to-consumer DNA testing and complimentary services, modern day biotech and genealogy companies like Ancestry and 23andMe market personalized insights into ancestry, genealogy, inherited traits, and health data that promise to connect users to their past, as well as to situate them in present-day society, through a deeper understanding of …

Memory And Rememory: Critically Cultivating An Appropriate Response Through A Storied Approach To Listening, Katie W. Powell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues for a storied approach to listening from the perspective of a white Southern woman. To do this, I carefully followed the work of two community groups. One, the Washington County Community Remembrance Project, is working to install a marker venerating Aaron, Anthony, and Randall, three enslaved people who were lynched in our area in 1856. The other, the James H. Berry United Daughters of the Confederacy, is responsible for installing a Confederate statue on the Bentonville Square in 1908 that was removed in 2020. As illustrated by the use of archival research and embedded participation in interracial …

Self-Deceive And Conquer: A Rhetoric Of Cunning, David Manuel Cajias

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation is to determine the role that self-deception plays in helping demagogues deceive or manipulate their audiences while remaining unaccountable. I will examine the ways in which self-deception aids demagogues and other unethical rhetoricians compellingly present their deceptive belief systems. This is done in a way that their beliefs are only unconsciously known to be false, inaccurate, or incomplete. As this knowledge is subconsciously stored and concealed from the demagogue’s conscience, I will argue that self-deception is the missing piece in the puzzle that is demagoguery.

Demagogic rhetoric has recently experienced a revival due to the …

Navigating Conversations Of Environmentalism On Social Media: From The Apocalyptic To The Aesthetic, Megan Provenzale

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

This project examines environmental discourse and rhetorical appeals used on Instagram by environmental influencers and addresses the lack of scholarship about social mobile commerce, Instagram, and the popularity of “eco-influencers.” My research applies post-composition studies, circulation, and visual rhetoric to two eco-influencers, Greta Thunberg (@gretathunbeerg) and Jessica Clifton (@impactforgood). I argue that Thunberg and Clifton employ aesthetic and apocalyptic rhetoric to educate and communicate with their following about reducing their carbon footprint and reversing climate change. By collecting three months of Instagram posts employed by each influencer, I identify patterns related to environmentalism, stylistic choices in captions, and presentation of …

Pandemic Pandemonium Speech Assignment, Cynthia Rostankowski

All Assignment Prompts

No abstract provided.

Kentucky Speech Arts Association (Mss 717), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 717. Minutes, 1931-1962, and associated records (correspondence, membership lists, program notices, and financial data) of the Kentucky Speech Arts Association, first organized as The Kentucky Association of Teachers of Speech.

Real Rap, Does Authenticity Even Matter In Hip Hop?, Amin Allam

Capstone Showcase

Rap and Hip hop has evolved tremendously since its inception. The collective genre has been catapulted to global influence, where in the United States it represents the largest genre based on market share. After reviewing the history of rap music there is a perceived relationship between hip hop and authenticity. To which the question arose of whether hip hop could maintain authenticity in a commercial sphere. To explore this relationship, after reviewing the literature on authenticity, a model of analysis created by Newman and Smith was used to explore 5years worth of data dealing with the Billboard top 100 list. …

Faith Down The Rabbit Hole: A Critical Rhetorical Interrogation Of Q-Anon And Parasitic Christianity, Nate Carlson

Masters Theses

Over the course of the last six years, the conspiracy theory community known as Q-Anon has risen to prominence across the internet, coming to encapsulate a significant portion of the United States’ conservative and protestant populations. This study applies the act of Critical Rhetoric as proposed by McKerrow (1989) to the Q-Anon “drops”; message board posts wherein Q, the enigmatic leader of Q-Anon, preached conspiratorial ideology and misinformation to his followers. A pattern of Christian theology being usurped and retooled by Q as a method of faith-based political radicalization emerged throughout the texts, and this phenomenon was named “Parasitic Christianity.” …