Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Communication Studies (Communication)

In this dissertation, I illustrate how external rhetorics (social discourses and rhetorical stories) contribute to what Jean Nienkamp terms internal rhetorics, self-deliberative arguments that take place in the “parliament of the psyche,” and inform the symbolic action of communicative (dis)engagement. Conducting an iterative analysis of 32 respondent interview transcripts, I rhetorically examine the reported lived experiences of self-identified political moderates to uncover the most influential external rhetorics that contribute to persuasive thoughts and emotions and consequently shape decisions to communicatively (dis)engage in political conversations. Findings reveal that reported external rhetorics—critical discourses, rhetorical stories of incivility, absence of recognition, and complimentary descriptions—contribute to reactive thoughts and emotions of avoidance, excitement, and caution, while contributing to decisions to participate, remain silent, or evaluate the context before responding. Moreover, the self-deliberative process of political moderates reflects a desire for civil dialogue in both rhetorical identity representations and in dialogic and deliberative interactions. Implications further underscore the theoretical intersectionality of rhetoric and public dialogue and deliberation inquiry, offer methodological avenues for engaged rhetoricians, critically dissect civil dialogue's potentially oppressive privileges, and consider the transformative potentials of critical dialogue.

Committee: jw Smith (Committee Chair); Roger Aden (Committee Member); Laura Black (Committee Member); Theodore Hutchinson (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Education; Political Science; Rhetoric

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Media and Communication

This dissertation examines the fatwa, an Islamic religious ruling and scholarly opinion on matters of Islamic law, and how fatwa is used as cultural, political and legal rhetoric. It illustrates how rhetoric of ulama¿ [scholars trained in Islam and Islamic law], mutakallimun [theologians], muftis [group of theologians or canon lawyers], qadis [judges], professors, and Sheikh al Islam [the highest-level state religious official], play a role in culture and communication in the Islamic world to gain political, social, cultural, and spiritual control. Specifically, the dissertation examines two of the most renowned fatwas (fatawa) issued in the past three decades: First, the fatwa issued by Ayotallah Ruhollah Khomeini on Salman Rushdie, second, the fatwa issued on Bengali Bangladeshi ex-doctor turned author, Taslima Nasrin, who has lived in exile since 1994. The most important contribution to knowledge this dissertation makes is the analysis of the fatwa issued on Egyptian author and intellectual, Dr. Faraj Fodah, who was murdered in 1992. Next to no research or media coverage exists in western sources about Fodah's life, publications, accomplishments, and assassination. Additionally, comprehensive evidence and transcripts from the trial of Fodah's assassins is presented. A combination of rhetorical criticism and discourse analysis is applied to examine the rhetoric of fatwas. Also analyzed are global perceptions of fatwas issued on Rushdie and Nasrin, both controversial authors of South Asian heritage, their involvement with the western nations that gave each asylum, and the broader western discourses that have held both authors in esteem and as exemplars of free speech. The study enhances understanding of how religion is used as an instrument for power, prestige, and political gain in Arab and Muslim majority nations. The study also helps understanding of political and cultural turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa. Finally, the dissertation highli (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alberto Gonzalez PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Lara Lengel PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Christopher Frey PhD (Other); Ellen Gorsevski PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Rhetoric

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2005, English (Arts and Sciences)

This qualitative, participant-observation study examines the political dynamics that affect the preparation of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) by writing program administrators (WPAs) at a mid-sized public research institution, “Ridge University.” As my primary source of data, I recorded, observed, and participated in a teaching assistant preparation (TAP) seminar that prepared new teachers to teach college composition and that met twice weekly during the fall term of 2000. I also rely on data gathered in participant interviews and during GTA orientation, department meetings, graduate program colloquia, and public functions throughout the twelve-week data collection phase of this study. Building most centrally on the scholarship of James Berlin, Bruce Horner, Margaret Himley, and Laura Micciche, I represent the experiences of graduate teaching assistants and writing program administrators and analyze their material, local, political, and emotional contexts. Examining formative events that took place in the teaching assistant preparation seminar I studied, I not only interpret the different ways GTAs and WPAs responded to political approaches to writing instruction, I explore how GTAs' and WPAs' respective institutional political locations affected their work. Through an investigation of research data and pertinent scholarship, I argue that GTAs' lack of institutional authority, teaching experience, and familiarity with political discourse negatively influenced their perceptions about their work. I also demonstrate the ways WPAs inhabited a split subjectivity, one that positioned them to be both disciplinary-activists and manager-disciplinarians and, as a result, caused tensions in their work. In order to combat the disaffection associated with teaching assistant preparation, I suggest that preparation initiatives proactively surface the pressures that erupt in work surrounding the teaching of writing by historicizing relationships among cultural, institutional (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sherrie Gradin (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1976, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

COVID, coupled with a flurry of black deaths at the hands of policemen, has spawned a new era of social movements. As online environments have multiplied, so have people's options for civic engagement. As a result, the field of writing studies and rhetoric is full of new research that questions what a social movement is and what it can do. However, it has yielded little empirical data that details the behind-the-scenes activity of a social movement organization. How can we understand what constitutes a social movement today if we rely only on what we see happening in the streets or on the internet? Such a front stage view only allows us access to the final product of activism, and thus, obscures the complex circumstances that catalyze and shape civic engagement. This research is an attempt to understand such circumstances, especially those related to writing as a tool to gain a more powerful position within a social movement network. In addition to there being little empirical research on social movements within writing studies and social movement rhetoric, there is a scarce body of literature that addresses how conservative social movements work. For many, the election of Donald Trump on the heels of our first black president has revealed surprising facts about our culture as fears about immigration, gun control, and abortion have been inflamed. Political debates about race, climate change, voter suppression, and reproductive rights restrictions make the study of conservative rhetorical tools even more critical. Using one prominent pro-life lobbying and social movement organization as my specifying site, this dissertation study aims to understand what motivates, influences, and facilitates a social movement. What entanglement of ideology, circumstances, and personal attachments exist within an activist organization, and how do these factors influence the language and delivery methods of such defining documents as mission statements, donor letters, legislation, a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Derek Van Ittersum (Committee Chair); Sara Newman (Committee Member); Pamela Takayoshi (Committee Member); Daniel Skinner (Committee Member) Subjects: Organization Theory; Rhetoric; Social Research

Master of Humanities (MHum), Wright State University, 2019, Humanities

In this thesis, I illustrate how epistemic injustice functions in the divide between white working-class men and the educated elite by discussing the discursive ways in which working-class knowledge and experience are devalued as legitimate sources of knowledge. I demonstrate this by using critical discourse analysis to interpret the underlying attitudes and ideologies in comments made by Clinton and Trump during their 2016 presidential campaigns. I also discuss how these ideologies are positively or negatively perceived by Trump's working-class base. Using feminist standpoint theory and phenomenology as a lens of interpretation, I argue that white working-class men are increasingly alienated from progressive politics through classist and ableist rhetoric. If progressives wish to win over white working-class men, they will need to ameliorate this division, otherwise this gap will continue to grow. Finally, I suggest class-sensitive approaches for moving forward and bridging this gap.

Committee: Kelli Zaytoun Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jessica Penwell-Barnett Ph.D. (Committee Member); Donovan Miyasaki Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology; Demographics; Epistemology; Gender; Gender Studies; Philosophy; Political Science; Rhetoric; Sociology; Womens Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Popular Culture

President George W. Bush experienced a drastic rise in popularity after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and this popularity continued through his first term and enabled him to be reelected for a second. In this thesis, I seek to explain some of President Bush's popularity by examining American popular entertainment media produced between 2001 and 2004. I look at ways that this media reinforced White House rhetoric and encouraged Bush's continued popularity with the American people. I analyze television shows (24 and Alias), romantic comedy and superhero movies (Two Weeks Notice, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, Maid in Manhattan, Spider-Man, and Spider-Man 2), and war-themed video games (Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Call of Duty, and Freedom Fighters) to examine how they contributed to the establishment of an “Us vs. Them” mentality and the construction of the wealthy white man (i.e. Bush himself) as the American savior, as well as created an environment in which any questioning of the Bush Administration or the War on Terror could be interpreted as traitorous.

Committee: Motz Marilyn (Committee Chair); Brown Jeff (Committee Member); Gajjala Radhika (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Film Studies; Mass Media; Middle Eastern Studies; Modern History; Motion Pictures; Political Science; Rhetoric

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2015, Communication Studies (Communication)

Formally begun in 1914 under the leadership of Margaret Sanger, the birth control movement in the United States constitutes one of the longest and most important rights based struggles in American history. This work approaches the phrase birth control as an ideograph and deploys critical historiography to explore its evolving articulations within the movement's rhetoric over the last 100 years. In doing so, this work builds on current scholarship in the fields of communication, history, and sociology by expanding existing discussions surrounding the struggle for reproductive rights generally and birth control specifically. Drawing primarily from archival materials and popular media sources, this work explores both how the movement articulated its demands and how these articulations played out in public discussions about birth control. Grounded in a historical overview of the movement, the rhetoric of the movement is then examined in relation to securing the right to contraception for various stakeholders and, most importantly, the articulation of women's reproductive rights. The espoused framework for reproductive rights is then broken down into its component parts – control and choice – culminating in a discussion of the rhetoric of constraint which limits the full enactment of the very reproductive rights framework birth controllers sought to establish. Ultimately, this work seeks to examine the tensions created by the movement's strategy of political accommodation that popularized the movement, and simultaneously left it vulnerable to the demands of external stakeholders.

Committee: Raymie McKerrow Ph.D. (Advisor); J.W. Smith Ph.D. (Committee Member); Judith Lee Ph.D. (Committee Member); Katherine Jellison Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Rhetoric; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2014, Organizational Behavior

In this dissertation, I examine the influence of arguments on political decisions related to the legality of two industries in transition: medical marijuana and payday loans. To date, no theoretical explanation exists in the organization theory literature to explain the role of arguments to influence political decisions related to industries that suffer negative or “illegitimate” social evaluations. I propose a model of the sociopolitical status of industries that highlights the often overlooked reality that public perceptions of industry legitimacy seldom perfectly support or endorse existing industry laws and regulations. Arguments made by public figures influence the sociopolitical status of industries by asserting a perspective of industry activities that provide social actors—including political decision makers—with “symbolic resources” to justify and broadcast support or opposition for the industry. Using this framework, I examine the influence of three factors—rhetoric, framing, and logics—that work through arguments to influence political decision making. While prior characterizations of rhetoric, framing, and logic suggest they exist as distinct elements influencing industry legality, I found evidence that all arguments include aspects of rhetoric, framing, and logic. Specifically, I found evidence of rhetoric signaling a perspective of support or opposition towards the industry. In addition, I found evidence of nine frames commonly used to categorize dialectical differences into conventional topics of conversation: enforcement, regulation, taxes, jobs, character, forthrightness, products, administration, and cost. I also found evidence of three overarching logics used to build a perspective of industry activity: the state, the community, and the market. Finally, I found evidence that arguments consisting of distinct configurations of rhetoric, framing, and logics influenced political decision making. These findings supported a number of proposition (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Corinne Coen (Committee Chair); Ronald Fry (Committee Member); Diana Bilimoria (Committee Member); Kalle Lyytinen (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Law; Logic; Management; Mass Media; Organization Theory; Rhetoric; Social Structure; Sociology

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Arts and Sciences : Sociology

The topic of immigration has appeared episodically as a contentious issue in American political history. Historically, race has been a central component within the public discourse and the reasoning behind many political policies regarding immigration. However, it does not seem controversial to say that overtly racist rhetoric appears to have less visibility in the contemporary political landscape. In this paper, I explore what immigration rhetoric looks like today, in particular the reasons “immigration reform” advocacy groups offer for justifying excluding immigrants settling in the United States, in particular by distinguishing them from what they consider true Americans. I contrast website based racial purity arguments used by members of the Aryan Nations to cultural purity arguments used by members of immigration reform groups such as the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR), American Immigration Control (AIC) and Balance. I show that both racial purity arguments and cultural purity arguments are similar in form, structure and function. Both types of arguments argue that each type of purity is fundamental, immutable, inherited and necessary for the public good. Both types of arguments are also used to justify limiting immigration.

Committee: Rhys Williams PhD (Committee Chair); Anna Linders PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Kelly Moore PhD (Other) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, English

This study develops a critical method for reading the vernacular frame narratives of Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate based on the grammar-school commentaries that taught them classical rhetoric, philology, and history. In the course of developing this method, I answer the following questions: why do the school texts and vernacular works exist in the same format? Why is it that Christian writers appropriate the structuring principles of Ovid's pagan Metamorphoses for their works? Furthermore, what inspired England's obsession with Ovidian narrative structure during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries? Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate, to name just a few, participated in this Ovidian vogue—attempting to capture the Roman's sinister and playful voice and, more specifically, to master the frame-narrative device that gave it critical direction. Seeing Ovid's collection of pagan myths as a cohesive and continuous poem, medieval commentators uncovered an argument about abuses of power. Vernacular writers adopted this approach to Ovid, interpreting his work as a model for literary navigation in a historically turbulent period. I hereby alter the assumption that medieval writers mined classical literature merely as sources for their compilations of exempla with which to practice moralizing strategies. Chaucer, Gower, Lydgate, and their literate contemporaries would have learned in school that the Metamorphoses was a text replete with masterful grammar, syntax, and rhetoric—but also with drama, subversion, and political intrigue. Schoolmasters generated an affinity for the Metamorphoses by emphasizing how Ovid the exile depicted a corrupt empire that maintained its dominance by removing discordant subjects; and these instructors showed that Ovid represented such hegemonic abuses by repeatedly relaying myths in which outliers are physically transformed in order to silence them. Thus the peculiar character of medieval education, which achieved literacy through the reading of non-Chr (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Professor Lisa J. Kiser PhD (Committee Chair); Professor Frank T. Coulson PhD (Committee Member); Professor Ethan Knapp PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature; Middle Ages

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Communication Studies (Communication)

This dissertation is a reflection on the status of hope in postmodern America. Emerging from the assumption that postmodern critiques of objective knowledge have significantly challenged the vitality of many American's hopes, and seeking, in part, to address this problem, I here make two broad arguments. First, I argue that postmodern challenges to objective truth need not signal the demise of hope. Second, I argue that the very same conditions which give rise to postmodern critiques of objective knowledge likewise provide exciting possibilities for reinvigorating hope in our current climate.In Chapter 1, I offer an extended reflection upon the changing status of hope as demonstrated by my own historic pilgrimage. In chapter 2, I consider in detail Jean-Francois Lyotard's The Postmodern Condition as well as various works by Richard Rorty. Relying heavily upon insight from these two theorists, I identify what I refer to as paralogic communication, a type of communication that depends upon narrative legitimation and that relies heavily upon the possibility of perpetually redescribing the world. As I explain, paralogic communication, both for Lyotard and Rorty, offers a way of sustaining hope while simultaneously rejecting objective truth. In Chapters 3 and 4, I examine various communicative artifacts by two different individuals: James Dobson and Barack Obama. Simply put, the goal here is to show that Dobson, particularly through his treatment of homosexuality and his vision for the American family, fails to enact paralogic communication as a way of describing a future, hopeful America. Even so, Dobson continues to engender hope within those who are convinced by his appeals. Obama, on the other hand, represents an exemplar of the employment of paralogy within our current, postmodern context. As I argue, such a vision of paralogy emerges from Obama's reliance upon America's self-description as codified in the Declaration of Independence and simultaneously illuminates (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Gregory J. Shepherd PhD (Committee Co-Chair); William Rawlins PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Raymie McKerrow PhD (Committee Member); Al Lent PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Gender; Philosophy; Political Science; Religion; Rhetoric; Theology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2006, Rhetorical Criticism (Communication)

Public policy is full of rhetorical messages, and the ways in which politicians use rhetoric shapes the mindset of a society. This is especially true when it comes to federally mandated policy written in regard to America's public education system. The No Child Left Behind Act is by far the most controversial education reform artifact ever published due to its insistence punishing non-compliant schools. This system of surveillance, coupled with other issues that will be discussed herein, have caused most educators to loudly criticize the bill, while the Bush administration under which it was enacted refuses to back off on its insistence that the act will work. In the field of communication studies, in order to gain a rhetorical perspective on discourse, it is vital to look at the relationship between historical events and the rhetoric surrounding them. Thus, in this dissertation I provide a rhetorical analysis of NCLB and how it measures in a rhetorical and historical context with other modern educational reform artifacts. I make the argument that an act cannot be successful on its name alone, but that is exactly the logic supporters of the No Child Left Behind Act are using.

Committee: Scott Titsworth (Advisor) Subjects: Speech Communication

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2006, English: Composition and Rhetoric

This project is an examination of the history of the comic book superhero figure and his/her rhetorical function, and pays particular attention to the political rhetoric in the post 911 comic book. I argue that a shift has taken place in recent years and that the comic book superhero, once primarily a vehicle for idealized morality and patriotic propaganda, has become a major tool for negotiating the ambivalence of social experience. This paper originally included a variety of images. They have been removed in order to eliminate copyright problems. A degree of loss in coherence is the result of this elimination.

Committee: John Tassoni (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2003, Speech Communication

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze Hillary Rodham Clinton's 1995 speech, “Women's Rights are Human Rights,” delivered to the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women, and Laura Bush's March 8, 2002, International Women's Day Address, delivered to the U.N. Using Bonnie J. Dow and Mari Boor Tonn's (1993) conception of political feminine style, this analysis argues that first lady rhetoric represents significant political speech by women and that political feminine style is a useful analytical tool for studying the words of female political rhetors. Additionally, this analysis suggests implications for Dow and Tonn's methodology, as well as implications for the study of speeches by first ladies.

Committee: Ben Voth (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, Communication Studies

The purpose of this study is to discuss how political campaigns and politicians have been depicted in films, and how the films function rhetorically through the use of core values. By interpreting real life, political films entertain us, perhaps satirically poking fun at familiar people and events. However, the filmmakers complete this form of entertainment through the careful integration of American values or through the absence of, or attack on those values. This study provides a rhetorical criticism of movies about national politics, with a primary focus on the value judgments, political consciousness and political implications surrounding the films Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Candidate (1972), The Contender (2000), Wag the Dog (1997), Power (1986), and Primary Colors (1998).

Committee: John Makay (Advisor) Subjects: Speech Communication