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The Women’s Elocution Movement in America, 1870-1915

Van Osdol, Paige M.

Abstract Details

2012, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, English.

“The Women’s Elocution Movement in America, 1870-1915,” examines late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century women's contributions to the American elocution movement, a rhetorical education movement devoted to the study of the uses of voice, gesture, and the body in public speaking and dramatic performance. The elocution movement was a popular cultural force during its own time and brought rhetorical education to a large, diverse population of students and private learners. In particular, the movement made rhetorical education accessible to women who became not only students of elocution but also prominent figures in the teaching and theorizing of elocution. Women were prolific in the publication of elocution and Delsarte textbooks, compilations for recitation and performance, and physical culture manuals. This dissertation recovers a canon of women’s published elocution texts to demonstrate the ways in which women regendered elocutionary training as a site of women’s rhetorical education. Such training had direct influences on women rhetors as they began to take up the speaking platform in larger and larger numbers at the turn of the century. Specifically, the women’s elocution movement taught the novice woman speaker regendered notions of feminine eloquence, delivery, ethos, and persuasion. Women elocutionists also provided female speakers with new speaking genres such as poetry recitation and tableaux, which they could use as they argued for social reform.

Influenced by the expression theories of French vocal and acting coach and philosopher François Delsarte, late nineteenth-century women elocutionists emphasized the rhetorical power of an affective mind, body, and soul in tune with the impressions it receives and able to express those internal feelings, thoughts, and emotions to others. Women elocutionists appealed specifically to female readers and students. In their elocution and Delsarte manuals, elocutionists like Genevieve Stebbins employed a woman-centered pedagogy based on conversational and intimate dialogue between student and teacher. Other elocutionists like Hallie Quinn Brown and Emily M. Bishop positioned their teachings in elocution as important to women’s liberation and to women’s preparation for participation in community activism and social reform. In physical cultural manuals—systems of physical exercises designed to train the body as a medium of expression in rhetorical and dramatic performance—women elocutionists such as Eleanor Georgen and Carrica LaFavre regendered the traditionally masculine rhetorical body by privileging feminine bodily attributes such as beauty and grace and by featuring visuals of feminine rhetorical bodies. In their elocutionary compilations of poetry and prose recitation, dialogue, and tableaux, women editors incorporated selections that revealed a nascent feminism: pieces that explored women’s changing roles at the turn of the century, that celebrated women’s historical accomplishments, and that argued directly for women’s rights. Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women elocutionists regendered every area of elocutionary study; these women helped usher in a new era of American oratory in which women speakers, performers, and elocutionists were regarded as eminent.

Dr. Nan Johnson (Advisor)
Dr. Beverly J. Moss (Committee Member)
Dr. H. Lewis Ulman (Committee Member)
256 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Van Osdol, P. M. (2012). The Women’s Elocution Movement in America, 1870-1915 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1339506012

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Van Osdol, Paige. The Women’s Elocution Movement in America, 1870-1915. 2012. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1339506012.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Van Osdol, Paige. "The Women’s Elocution Movement in America, 1870-1915." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1339506012

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)