Movement Rhetoric Rhetoric's Movements – serie

A groundbreaking rhetorical framework for the study of transnational digital activismWhat does it mean when we call a movement "global"? How can we engage with digital activism without being "slacktivists"? In Activist Literacies, Jennifer Nish responds to these questions and a larger problem in contemporary public discourse: many discussions and analyses of digital and transnational activism rely on inaccurate language and inadequate frameworks. Drawing on transnational feminist theory and rhetorical analysis, Nish formulates a robust set of tools for nuanced engagement with activist rhetorics.Nish applies her literacies of positionality, orientation, and circulation to case studies that highlight grassroots activism, well-resourced nonprofits, and a decentralized social media challenge; in so doing, she illustrates the complex power dynamics at work in each scenario and demonstrates how activist literacies can be used to understand and engage with efforts to contribute to social change. Written in an accessible, engaging style, Activist Literacies invites scholars, students, and activists to read activist rhetoric that engages with "global" concerns and circulates transnationally via social media.

A groundbreaking rhetorical framework for the study of transnational digital activismWhat does it mean when we call a movement "global"? How can we engage with digital activism without being "slacktivists"? In Activist Literacies, Jennifer Nish responds to these questions and a larger problem in contemporary public discourse: many discussions and analyses of digital and transnational activism rely on inaccurate language and inadequate frameworks. Drawing on transnational feminist theory and rhetorical analysis, Nish formulates a robust set of tools for nuanced engagement with activist rhetorics.Nish applies her literacies of positionality, orientation, and circulation to case studies that highlight grassroots activism, well-resourced nonprofits, and a decentralized social media challenge; in so doing, she illustrates the complex power dynamics at work in each scenario and demonstrates how activist literacies can be used to understand and engage with efforts to contribute to social change. Written in an accessible, engaging style, Activist Literacies invites scholars, students, and activists to read activist rhetoric that engages with "global" concerns and circulates transnationally via social media.

Drawing on original archival research in the rhetoric of civil rights, the author explores this largely underexamined rhetorical studies site In Liturgy of Change: Rhetorics of the Civil Rights Mass Meeting, Elizabeth Miller examines civil rights mass meetings as a transformative rhetorical, and religious, experience. While rhetorical scholars have analyzed other components of the civil rights movement, including sit-ins, marches, and voter registration campaigns, as well as meeting speeches delivered by well-known figures, the mass meeting itself still is a significant but underexamined site in rhetorical studies. Miller's "liturgy of change" framework brings attention to the pattern of religious genres—song, prayer, and testimony—that structured the events, and the ways these genres created rhetorical opportunities for ordinary people to speak up and develop their activism. To recover and reconstruct these patterns, Miller analyzes archival audio recordings of mass meetings held in Greenville and Hattisburg, Mississippi; Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham, Alabama; Savannah, Sumter, and Albany, Georgia; St. Augustine, Florida; and Danville, Virginia.

Drawing on original archival research in the rhetoric of civil rights, the author explores this largely underexamined rhetorical studies site In Liturgy of Change: Rhetorics of the Civil Rights Mass Meeting, Elizabeth Miller examines civil rights mass meetings as a transformative rhetorical, and religious, experience. While rhetorical scholars have analyzed other components of the civil rights movement, including sit-ins, marches, and voter registration campaigns, as well as meeting speeches delivered by well-known figures, the mass meeting itself still is a significant but underexamined site in rhetorical studies. Miller's "liturgy of change" framework brings attention to the pattern of religious genres—song, prayer, and testimony—that structured the events, and the ways these genres created rhetorical opportunities for ordinary people to speak up and develop their activism. To recover and reconstruct these patterns, Miller analyzes archival audio recordings of mass meetings held in Greenville and Hattisburg, Mississippi; Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham, Alabama; Savannah, Sumter, and Albany, Georgia; St. Augustine, Florida; and Danville, Virginia.

Eight stories about extraordinary action carried out by ordinary people When you want to affect positive change against structural and systemic problems, where do you begin? In Peace by Peace Lisa Silvestri uses interview-based storytelling to explore the catalytic moments that led ordinary people to address social, political, and economic problems in their communities ranging from the West Bank to West Baltimore. The source of their audacity is practical wisdom, an Ancient Greek virtue that Silvestri revives for twenty-first century application. In the face of big problems like environmental exploitation, global conflict, and ongoing fights for social justice, Peace by Peace offers deeply informed insight into how we can move past debilitating cynicism to create actionable change.

Eight stories about extraordinary action carried out by ordinary people When you want to affect positive change against structural and systemic problems, where do you begin? In Peace by Peace Lisa Silvestri uses interview-based storytelling to explore the catalytic moments that led ordinary people to address social, political, and economic problems in their communities ranging from the West Bank to West Baltimore. The source of their audacity is practical wisdom, an Ancient Greek virtue that Silvestri revives for twenty-first century application. In the face of big problems like environmental exploitation, global conflict, and ongoing fights for social justice, Peace by Peace offers deeply informed insight into how we can move past debilitating cynicism to create actionable change.

How Black American women have uplifted Black communities and critiqued dominant white memoriesIn Community and Critique, Sara C. VanderHaagen analyzes Black women's memory work, a deliberate, public effort to create, preserve, revise, and circulate accounts of the past to strengthen community bonds and effect change. VanderHaagen draws from the resources of rhetorical studies, public memory studies, and Black feminism to examine key examples of Black women's memory work during the critical historical period between Reconstruction and the Harlem Renaissance. These instances include public addresses about exemplary women, speeches given at the 1893 World's Congress of Representative Women, the 1923 campaign against the "Black Mammy" monument that was proposed for creation in Washington, DC, and the 1926 biography collection, Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction. Responding to a call by Black feminist scholars to move beyond recovery toward deeper engagement with Black women's intellectual and rhetorical work, Community and Critique centers the memory work of Black American women to demonstrate the significant, if underexamined, role that they played in shaping our shared past.

Advancing feminist rhetorical methods for social change In a world marked by political polarization and racial, sexist, ableist, and class-based injustices, feminist rhetorical research is vital to ongoing struggles for social justice—in communities, in digital spaces, and in classrooms. Rhetorica Rising introduces a range of feminist rhetorical methods and methodologies that can help us understand social justice movements, past and present.The collection highlights how the field of rhetorical studies has evolved over the past decade, taking up the challenge of creating intersectional feminist scholarship that engages with BlPOC histories and rhetorics, decolonial rhetorics, digital studies, disability studies, queer studies, transnational studies, and discourses regarding reproductive justice.

Advancing feminist rhetorical methods for social change In a world marked by political polarization and racial, sexist, ableist, and class-based injustices, feminist rhetorical research is vital to ongoing struggles for social justice—in communities, in digital spaces, and in classrooms. Rhetorica Rising introduces a range of feminist rhetorical methods and methodologies that can help us understand social justice movements, past and present.The collection highlights how the field of rhetorical studies has evolved over the past decade, taking up the challenge of creating intersectional feminist scholarship that engages with BlPOC histories and rhetorics, decolonial rhetorics, digital studies, disability studies, queer studies, transnational studies, and discourses regarding reproductive justice.