These Things Will Change: Public Revision as a Feminist Rhetorical Strategy in Taylor Swift's Re-Recorded Albums

Abstract

Writing is rewriting; revision is crucial to the process, for all writers. However, all too often, revision is shrouded in secrecy, shame, and silence. What’s more, research on revision remains largely stagnant. As a result, we stymie writers’ growth and effectiveness, endangering the voices of many. Hiding revision cultivates hopelessness. It is into this landscape that Taylor Swift’s re-recording project enters. These “Taylor’s Version” albums have been evaluated from many perspectives, but we are missing an understanding of what the re-recordings reveal about the craft of writing. Using discourse analysis and rhetorical accretion methods to understand Taylor Swift’s re-recorded albums as instances of revision, this dissertation theorizes public revision as a feminist rhetorical strategy that exists at the intersection of feminist rhetorics, public writing, and revision/composition theory. In doing so, it advances knowledge on the understudied topic of effective feminist revision practices, while studying the rhetorical practices of one of the most visible, influential figures of (popular) culture today. This dissertation reclaims revision by situating public revision within ongoing conversations about composition and revision practices, along with popular culture studies. I identify three functions of public revision that serve feminist purposes: 1. Revision as record, 2. Revision as authority, and 3. Revision as activism. Through evaluation of the re-recorded “Taylor’s Version” albums’ visuals, “vault songs,” and promotion, along with line-by-line analysis of what Swift did and did not re-write, this dissertation theorizes the feminist rhetorical method of public revision that all writers, writing instructors, and thinkers might use to strengthen their writing, understand the relationship between texts and cultures, advocate for change, and, ultimately, nurture hope for a better world