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PENDYGRAFT DISSERTATION FINAL.pdf (1.34 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

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Animate Literacies

Pendygraft, Robert Caleb
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8853-5223
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1562439403132225

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, English.
In this dissertation, Animate Literacies, I argue that conventional notions of literacy sponsorship (Brandt) fail to account for all the complexities of meaning making and power relations in queer lives, especially in othered places like Appalachia. I conduct queer literacy research in Appalachia in order to expand the scope of literacy sponsorship beyond a traditional focus on human individuals and institutions. By queering literacy methodologies and theories, I suggest that becoming literate involves a vast diversity of non-human agents, ranging from but not limited to the landscape, embodied technologies, mundane objects, and more, as well as the relations among these agents. Through a new materialist lens (Barad; Bennett; Chen), I theorize literacy as an active, participatory force—moving, shifting, flowing, perhaps even alive in its own way. My theory of animate literacies evolves from the literacy stories of five queer Appalachian participants. By bringing together queer (Alexander; Chen; Pritchard), Appalachian (Bradshaw; Donehower & Webb-Sunderhaus; Snyder), and new materialist rhetorics (Barad; Gries), my theory of animate literacies offers a queer, new materialist approach for studying the immediate affects and materiality of literacy practices. In this way, Animate Literacies forges queerly forward in order to make room for the nonhuman world to enter into its study. Complicating our relationship with the environment and all its nonhuman actors — from the food we eat, the local landscapes, to our pets, the trees, even the trash we throw away — a theory of animate literacies brings into relief how literacy is about being-with the world in more meaningful ways. Ultimately, Animate Literacies seeks to present an explanation as to how we survive in the Anthropocene and the inevitable, queer futures ahead.
Jason Palmeri (Committee Co-Chair)
Sara Webb-Sunderhaus (Committee Co-Chair)
Michele Simmons (Committee Member)
Emily Legg (Committee Member)
Roxanne Ornelas (Committee Member)
179 p.
Linguistics; Literacy; Regional Studies; Rhetoric
literacy; queer; Appalachia; literacy sponsor; non-human; Anthropocene; animacies; posthumanism; new materialism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pendygraft, R. C. (2019). Animate Literacies [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1562439403132225

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pendygraft, Robert. Animate Literacies. 2019. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1562439403132225.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pendygraft, Robert. "Animate Literacies." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1562439403132225

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1562439403132225
139
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.