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Final_Schoettler Dissertation.pdf (1.17 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Feminist Affective Resistance: Literacies and Rhetorics of Transformation

Schoettler, Megan Patricia
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1656604970574154

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, English.
This dissertation examines the important affective labor of diverse feminist activists and sexual assault survivor advocates and contributes a theory of feminist affective resistance. I define feminist affective resistance as the transformative rhetorics and literacy practices feminists employ to challenge dominant pedagogies of emotion while building toward feminist and survivor-centered futures. In Chapter 1, I situate this dissertation within scholarship on affect, feminist rhetorics, and literacies, establishing how feminist scholars and activists have begun to identify and resist social-emotional scripts. In Chapter 2, I constellate a feminist trauma-informed methodology and introduce my participants and methods. I investigate feminist rhetorical strategies and literacy practices through interviews with eleven feminist activists and an ethnographic case study at a rape crisis center where I have volunteered for three years. In Chapter 3, I describe how feminist activists enact digital tactics of feminist affective resistance while making social media work for them. Participants in this study established feminist affective counterpublics online and carefully navigated the affective burdens of their online activism. In Chapter 4, I investigate the feminist rhetorical pedagogies at the Midwest Rape Crisis Organization (MRCO), including five rhetorical tenets that guide advocate interactions with survivors. MRCO rhetorics and pedagogies help survivors and advocates realign away from discourses of rape culture and toward feminist values of the organization. In Chapter 5, I present MRCO as a literacy sponsor that helps advocates affectively attune with survivors and affectively realign away from vicarious trauma. Literacy practices of MRCO advocates include reading to believe, writing to process, and gathering to heal. In Chapter 6, I review four lessons of feminist affective resistance, including the importance of rhetorical affective education. I conclude this dissertation with implications and suggestions for social justice leaders, writing teachers, and researchers.
Jason Palmeri (Committee Co-Chair)
Sara Webb-Sunderhaus (Committee Co-Chair)
Lisa Weems (Committee Member)
Emily Legg (Committee Member)
Michele Simmons (Committee Member)
190 p.
Composition; Gender Studies; Literacy; Rhetoric; Womens Studies
Rhetoric; Affect; Literacy; Intersectional; Feminism; Sexual Assault; Trauma; Trauma-Informed; Sexual Assault Advocate; Advocacy; Feminist Activism; Activism; Social Justice; Feminist Methodology; Ethnography; Counterpublics; Emotion; Writing; Reading; Community Care; Social Media; Technofeminism; Rape Culture; Shame; Community-Engaged Research

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Schoettler, M. P. (2022). Feminist Affective Resistance: Literacies and Rhetorics of Transformation [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1656604970574154

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Schoettler, Megan. Feminist Affective Resistance: Literacies and Rhetorics of Transformation . 2022. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1656604970574154.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Schoettler, Megan. "Feminist Affective Resistance: Literacies and Rhetorics of Transformation ." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1656604970574154

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1656604970574154
582
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This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.