Rhetoric and heresthetic in the Mississippi Freedom Party controversy at the 1964 Democratic Convention

This thesis shows the development and shifts in rhetorical form as strategies evolve to meet heresthetic demands. This thesis explores the rhetorical crisis that emerged between the Democratic Party and the Mississippi Freedom Party at the 1964 Democratic Convention. Specifically, the focus is on the rhetorical discourse presented by the members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Fannie Lou Hamer in particular, at the Credentials Committee two days before the onset of the actual Convention. It is the rhetorical interplay in the specific context of the Committee, the subsequent political bargaining behind the scenes during the next four days of the Convention, and the emerging and evolving constraints as a result of this bargaining that illuminate the symbolic power and limitations behind a rhetoric aimed at redefining race in the nation??s social and political consciousness

The rhetoric of <free speech> : regulating dissent since 9/11

textSince the conspicuously broad and vague definition of terrorism in the USA PATRIOT Act, signed into legislation on October 26, 2001 to increase governmental power in domestic security procedures, legal doctrine and normative practices of free speech have become sites of struggle over the meaning of both terrorism and freedom of expression. In 2005, twelve cartoonists drew the Prophet Muhammad for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The subsequent reprints and republications led to boycotts, protests, and riots in over 27 countries culminating in at least 139 deaths. Now known as the Danish cartoons controversy, news and entertainment sources alike narrate a story about protecting a fundamental characteristic of American identity—free speech—in the face of a terrorist threat. In American universities, David Horowitz’s proposed legislation, the Academic Bill of Rights, targets Left academics, who, according to Horowitz, “influence, in a negative way, America’s war on terror.” In August 2008, protesters at the Republican National Convention were formally charged with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism. In this dissertation, I explore how the rhetoric of free speech is a naturalizing and legitimating ideology employed to organize people around particular interests and mobilize them toward particular political ends. My research is guided by the question: How has the ideological terrain of the First Amendment—specifically, the right to free speech—changed since September 11, 2001, and why? I argue that rhetoricians should approach the traditional free speech narrative as part of an instrumental political act, as opposed to a universal principle. Cast as a discursive tool in a hegemonic struggle, the traditional free speech narrative offers the potential to open up spaces of protest and infuse ordinary citizens with political agency. Using the method of ideology critique, I develop and test these arguments through three case studies of free speech since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001: the Danish cartoons controversy, David Horowitz’s Academic Freedom Campaign, and protests during the 2008 Republican National Convention.Communication Studie

The Writing on the Wall: Metonymy, Pulse, and the Disciplinary Intersections of Rhetoric and Performance Studies

We consider the movement of metonymy within three academic contexts: research practices, disciplinary intersections, and scholarly identity and mentorship. By conceptualizing the movement of metonymy as pulse, we analyze both the structural movement of the trope as well as the movement of the constituent parts represented by this trope. Advancing the idea of metonymic performance, we consider the role of posthuman agency within metonymy as a way to theorize our performances within discursive, disciplinary, and personal relationships

CRIUS:Undergraduate Research Journal 2014

Volume 2 Number 1 Fall 2014Volume 2 Number 1 of the CRIUS. This journal includes the research of undergraduate students as part of Research & Creative Endeavor SymposiumASU Undergraduate Research Initiativ