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A Sharper Point: A Feminist, Multimodal Heuristic for Analyzing Knitted Rhetoric

Pristash, Heather Elizabeth
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1416439777

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, English (Rhetoric and Writing) PhD.
This dissertation explores needlework and its use as a rhetorically significant meaning- making tool. A term for this phenomenon—“rhetorical needlework”—is proposed and defined through the application of work from several authors, most particularly Robert Herrick. While rhetorical needlework has been the subject of study by many scholars in rhetoric, it has most often been studied as a historical phenomenon. However, there is a great deal of modern craft that fits this definition of rhetorical needlework; thus far, however, it has not had the depth of scholarly attention given to historical work. This dissertation seeks to help remedy this problem. In analyzing this modern rhetorical needlework, this dissertation argues that several areas of knowledge must be combined, including craft, multimodality, and feminist rhetoric. These areas of knowledge are combined through the generation of a heuristic, with which modern rhetorical needlework can then be analyzed. In creating that heuristic, several areas of work are reviewed and synthesized into four main categories: rhetorical, craft, feminist, and multimodal. Pieces consulted in this literature review come from Macdonald, Berners-Lee, Humphreys, Royster and Kirsch, Goggin, Parker, Dasler Johnson, Bratich and Brush, Shipka, Bateman, Glenn, Cixous, Greer, Mattingly, Palmeri, and others. The resulting heuristic consists of thirteen questions that help in reaching a deeper, multifaceted understanding of specific pieces of rhetorical needlework. After it has been generated, the heuristic is then applied to a case study: The Red Sweater Project/redsweaters.org. Using the heuristic helps reveal both why this work succeeds and, potentially, some of the reasons that it went unfinished. Conversely, this application also helps suggest further ways that the heuristic might be developed and applied in future work.
Sue Carter Wood (Advisor)
Kristine Blair (Committee Member)
Radhika Gajjala (Committee Member)
Vibha Bhalla (Committee Member)
177 p.
Composition; Rhetoric; Womens Studies
rhetoric; womens studies; feminism; gender; knitting; needlecraft; rhetorical analysis; heuristic; craftivism; fabriculture; multimodality

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pristash, H. E. (2014). A Sharper Point: A Feminist, Multimodal Heuristic for Analyzing Knitted Rhetoric [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1416439777

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pristash, Heather. A Sharper Point: A Feminist, Multimodal Heuristic for Analyzing Knitted Rhetoric. 2014. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1416439777.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pristash, Heather. "A Sharper Point: A Feminist, Multimodal Heuristic for Analyzing Knitted Rhetoric." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1416439777

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1416439777
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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.