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When the President Talks to God: A Rhetorical Criticism of Anti-Bush Protest Music

O'Byrne, Megan Sue
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1225216520

Abstract Details

2008, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Communication Studies.
Anti-war protest music has re-emerged onto the American songscape since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the resulting military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This study works to explicate the ways in which protest music functions in the resultant culture of war. Protest music, as it reflects and creates culture, represents one possible site of productive change. Chapter 1 examines Ani DiFranco's song “Self Evident” which was written as an immediate reaction to 9/11. Throughout this chapter I argue that protest music has the potential to work as a vehicle for consciousness raising. In Chapter 2 I consider the constitutive elements in the Bright Eyes song “When the President Talks to God.” Performed on The Tonight Show in May 2005, this song represents one of the first performances of dissent on national television after 9/11. This chapter also examines the limitations of Charland's conception of the constituted public as it pertains to diverse and heterogeneous audiences. Ultimately, I argue that consciousness raising through music has the potential to bring listeners into the constituted subject position of those who dissent against war.
Michael Butterworth, PhD (Committee Chair)
Lara Martin Lengel, PhD (Committee Member)
Ellen Gorsevski, PhD (Committee Member)
130 p.
Communication
constitutive rhetoric; consciousness raising; protest music; rhetoric; feminism; dissent

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • O'Byrne, M. S. (2008). When the President Talks to God: A Rhetorical Criticism of Anti-Bush Protest Music [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1225216520

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • O'Byrne, Megan. When the President Talks to God: A Rhetorical Criticism of Anti-Bush Protest Music. 2008. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1225216520.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • O'Byrne, Megan. "When the President Talks to God: A Rhetorical Criticism of Anti-Bush Protest Music." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1225216520

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1225216520
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© 2008, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.