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bgsu1151349899.pdf (737.15 KB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
American Feminist Manifestos and the Rhetoric of Whiteness
Author Info
Adams, Elliot C.
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151349899
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2006, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies/English.
Abstract
Using textual analysis, feminist and cultural theories, this study exposed the rhetorical reproduction of whiteness in language, examining how whiteness suffuses linguistic choices that appear to be unbiased. Throughout, it identified where and how whiteness operates as the motivating force in the social power structure of the United States by using certain feminist manifestos as an example of the rhetorical reproduction and performativity of whiteness. Feminist manifestos were chosen as the particular genre of study because while they do represent progress toward social justice in gendered power relations, they do not always or necessarily advance social justice in terms of race, class, or sexuality. Manifestos by white women were shown to include discursive choices that reinforce whiteness, whereas manifestos by women of color critiqued those choices, reminding white feminists that multiple identity factors always simultaneously affect women’s lives. Manifestos by white feminists were organized roughly chronologically, within the standard feminist divisions of First, Second, and Third Waves; this study problematized that historical construction by emphasizing the ways in which, as another function of whiteness, the designation of waves as incorporating certain time periods has been a white feminist tool for structuring history. To show how women of color have always been aware of the multiplicity of issues oppressing women, this study grouped those manifestos together, highlighting their common arguments against white feminist’s singular call for gender equality. Finally, the objective of this study was to remind white feminists of their white privilege and to hold them accountable for the ways that such privilege has blinded them to the realities of intersecting oppressions in all women’s lives, not just those of women of color.
Committee
Ellen Berry (Advisor)
Keywords
Manifestos
;
Whiteness
;
Declaration of Sentiments
;
Man-Made World
;
SCUM Manifesto
;
Redstockings Manifesto
;
The Woman-Identified Woman
;
Third Wave Manifesta
;
GLAM Manifesto
;
The Transfeminist Manifesto
;
Aren't I A Woman?
;
A Black Feminist Statement
Recommended Citations
Refworks
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RIS
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Citations
Adams, E. C. (2006).
American Feminist Manifestos and the Rhetoric of Whiteness
[Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151349899
APA Style (7th edition)
Adams, Elliot.
American Feminist Manifestos and the Rhetoric of Whiteness.
2006. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151349899.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Adams, Elliot. "American Feminist Manifestos and the Rhetoric of Whiteness." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151349899
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
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Document number:
bgsu1151349899
Download Count:
3,209
Copyright Info
© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.