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You'uns: Toward Appalachian Rhetorical Sovereignty

Hayes, Amanda E.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1430585648

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, English (Arts and Sciences).
“You'uns: Toward Appalachian Rhetorical Sovereignty” began as a consideration of how Scott Richard Lyons's concept of rhetorical sovereignty (put forward in his essay “Rhetorical Sovereignty: What do American Indians Want from Writing?”) might be applied to Appalachia. While the field of rhetoric and composition has advanced a sense of academic and social value for non-standard dialects, my sense is that Appalachian dialects in particular continue to be evaluated as “wrong” rather than different. This evaluation of linguistic error is tied with perceptions of cultural deficit, making some teachers eager to correct both the language and the social values of Appalachian students. What is often unseen in this is the rhetorical writing and communication styles that are attached to that language and those values. Because Appalachian rhetoric as a shared cultural dynamic remains unseen and unconsidered in the classroom, many Appalachian students fail to see themselves as united with others in potentially empowering ways. Thus, where Lyons defines rhetorical sovereignty as the right of a people, united by shared language and cultural history, to create their own definition and have it respected, the people of Appalachia must first learn to perceive themselves, and be recognized by others, as a rhetorically-linked people. To this end, I use historical, cultural, and rhetorical analysis to investigate Appalachian rhetoric as a potentially uniting factor. Specifically, I put forward that elements of Celtic rhetoric and ideology have been inherited by Appalachian peoples throughout the region. These elements are discernible in the ways Appalachians speak and write, although because these elements are unrecognized as rhetorical practices within the academy, many students are simply given the sense that they “don't know how to write.” I advocate bringing Appalachian rhetoric as a concept into regional classrooms, asking students to investigate and record their sense of Appalachian definition and discourse, as a stepping stone toward achieving a critical sense of ourselves as both individual and linked. I also demonstrate my sense of Appalachian rhetorical writing, through the inclusion of personal and family stories and considerations of my process of thinking as illustrative of individualized, non-adversarial argument.
Holt Mara, Dr. (Advisor)
Gradin Sherrie , Dr. (Committee Member)
Nelson Jennie , Dr. (Committee Member)
Hutchinson Jaylynne, Dr. (Committee Member)
199 p.
Composition; Curriculum Development; Education; Rhetoric
Appalachia; Education; History; Writing; Rhetoric

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hayes, A. E. (2015). You'uns: Toward Appalachian Rhetorical Sovereignty [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1430585648

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hayes, Amanda. You'uns: Toward Appalachian Rhetorical Sovereignty. 2015. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1430585648.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hayes, Amanda. "You'uns: Toward Appalachian Rhetorical Sovereignty." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1430585648

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1430585648
724
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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12