Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Alt-Right Of The_Donald And Authoritarian Communists On Reddit: Internet Memes To Build Community, Joshua Hendricks

Master's Theses

This project infuses Lacanian psychoanalysis further into the rhetorical study by exploring authoritarian discourses on Reddit. I analyze the alt-right community that found a home on the subreddit r/The_Donald and chart their discourse as it shaped from the quarantine to the establishment of an independent forum called TheDonald.win. I selected memes and the comments around them to build the analysis. The second aspect of this thesis examines authoritarian communist discourse on Reddit. The leftist community splintered when r/socialism banned a community member because the person made catgirl art. The ban sent shockwaves through the leftist community on Reddit and generated …

The Narrative Paradigm In Sarah Kay's "If I Should Have A Daughter", Stephanie G. Chan

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

In her 2011 TED Talk debut, spoken word poet Sarah Kay presented a breathtaking performance of two of her poems, “B” and “Hiroshima.” Throughout her speech, she takes the audience through the process of self-realization that transformed her into the poet she is today. From her first performance at just 14 years old, to being welcomed by New York’s Bowery Poetry Club, to creating Project Voice alongside her college classmate Phil Kaye, to now teaching spoken word poetry to the teenagers she once was, Kay proves that spoken word as an art form is more than just pen on paper. …

From Self-Help To Self-Harm: Rhetoric In The Self-Help Industry, Grace S. Royle

Non-Thesis Student Work

Over the past several years, the self-help industry has become increasingly more successful and sought out; especially in the United States, whose modern society celebrates individualism and self-improvement. However, within this new and unregulated field lie several unknowns and invisible dangers. Multiple instances involving popular and beloved gurus have ended in tragedy, twisting cases of self-help into self-harm. This paper chases after just how this is possible and discovers that weaponized communication is largely to blame.

From Self-Help to Self-Harm: Rhetoric in the Self-Help Industry discusses the cases of James Arthur Ray, Keith Raniere, and Isaac Hershkopf to uncover how …

Princes, Moms, And Warriors: A Feminist Rhetorical Analysis Of Toxic Depictions In Film, Brittany Bahl

Masters Theses

Various forms of toxic rhetoric have been the subject of academic study for decades. Despite some advancements toward a more progressive society, toxic rhetorics have continued to persist within the United States, especially within entertainment media. Toxic rhetorics within film, in particular, have remained steadily prevalent and continue to strongly impact audiences and constructions of identity. This thesis utilizes primarily close reading and feminist rhetorical criticism to examine rhetorics of toxicity within three popular film franchises: (1) toxic masculinity in Coming to America (1988) and Coming 2 America (2021); (2) toxic femininity in Bad Moms; and (3) straightwashing as …

Rhetorical Analysis Of Choosing To Go To The Moon "And Do The Other Things", Skyler M. Kona

Communication 300 Papers

On September 12, 1962, president John F. Kennedy visited Rice University in Houston, Texas, and delivered what is commonly known as one of the most iconic speeches in American history. The speech, titled “Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort”, but more widely known as “We Choose to go to the Moon”, was an attempt to gain further support for the nation's efforts in the Space Race against the Soviet Union. In his speech, Kennedy uses various techniques in order to further boost the audience's understanding of the situation, as well as, crucially, inspiring them to lend their …

Is France Having A Populist Moment?, Emma Gilmore

Honors Theses

The word populism is often thrown around in news media and academic scholarship, but there is a lack of understanding of what it actually means as a political theory. In France, the two presidential candidates that made it to the second round in 2017, Emmanuel Macron and Marine le Pen, were both called populist, despite having vastly different campaign strategies and messages. This study used a computer-based method to analyze Campaign books from 24 candidates beginning in 1981 that determined that Populist language is on the rise, but not as aggressively as news media suggests.