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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Rhetorics of Remaining: The Production and Circulation of Cultural Rhetorics in Appalachian Civic Organizations

Bradshaw, Jonathan L.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8344-4736
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1464681132

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, English.
This dissertation analyzes the rhetorics of Appalachian civic organizations that make the argument “remaining” is a tenable option among discursive, material, and economic pressures to do otherwise. This dissertation analyzes “remaining” through a rhetorical frame to show how remaining is more than simply staying put—it requires active rhetorical intervention in civic contexts and attention to the circulation of rhetorical positions and content. Analyzing “remaining” as a cultural rhetoric enables us to identify a civic techne that can be used in Appalachia and other areas where rhetorics of remaining are (or could be) deployed. I identify and develop this new frame—rhetorics of remaining—through my year-and-a-half participatory research with two Appalachian civic organizations: Appalshop, a multi-media non-profit in eastern Kentucky; and the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition, a community advocacy group for Appalachian out-migrants and their descendants in Cincinnati, Ohio. I trace acts of rhetorical remaining through interviews, analyses of media productions and web spaces, and collaborating with these groups in developing rhetorical strategies and producing content. This dissertation contributes to ongoing scholarship of how culture shapes rhetorical practice in civic spaces and how questions of circulation shape our rhetorical decisions by examining the civic work heritage claims do for communities. I uncover three broad strategies used in rhetorical remaining: "keeping with" heritage as a civic art among oppressive or indifferent discourses; offering "inventional trajectories" that redirect media flows; and "slow circulation," a strategy for community advocacy oriented toward sustained change over the long haul. Through these strategies, rhetorics of remaining offer a rhetorical theory for social change for communities struggling to pull themselves out of economic decline, halt outmigration, and/or to maintain cultural identities outside of a homeland.
W. Michele Simmons, Dr. (Committee Chair)
James Porter, Dr. (Committee Member)
Heidi McKee, Dr. (Committee Member)
James Coyle, Dr. (Committee Member)
140 p.
Composition; Ethnic Studies; Multimedia Communications; Regional Studies; Rhetoric; Technical Communication
rhetoric; cultural rhetorics; rhetoric and composition; professional writing; civic rhetoric; public rhetoric; Appalachia; Appalachian Studies; circulation studies; participatory research; community-based research; Appalshop; urban Appalachian

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bradshaw, J. L. (2016). Rhetorics of Remaining: The Production and Circulation of Cultural Rhetorics in Appalachian Civic Organizations [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1464681132

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bradshaw, Jonathan. Rhetorics of Remaining: The Production and Circulation of Cultural Rhetorics in Appalachian Civic Organizations. 2016. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1464681132.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bradshaw, Jonathan. "Rhetorics of Remaining: The Production and Circulation of Cultural Rhetorics in Appalachian Civic Organizations." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1464681132

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1464681132
330
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.