Rhetorical criticism

This dissertation tests an original hybrid methodology to explore the rapid spread
of the idea of human-made climate change that began in the 1950s after the idea had lain
dormant for half a century. It describes the 1950s rhetorical events that triggered the
idea’s diffusion, then traces how its rhetorical uses gradually gave root to the end-of-thecentury
political impasse over how to respond to the societal implications of the idea.
The research methodology rests on the simple logic that an idea can only spread
by being used in human discourses. It combines traditions of rhetorical historiography
with a philosophical view of intellectual history as the cumulative effect of a “natural
selection” of ideas and their spread by human individuals over time and geography. It
calls for sampling and analyzing rhetorical artifacts in light of the rhetorical situations in
which they originate, focusing on how the idea of human-made climate change is used
rhetorically in scientific and other discourses. The analyses form the basis of a narrative giving emphasis both to rhetorical continuities and to conversation-changing rhetorical
events. They also show how these rhetorical dynamics involve interactions of human
communities using or attacking the idea for their communal purposes.
The results challenge science-focused understandings of the history of the idea
itself and also suggest that the methodology may be more broadly useful.
As to the history, the analyses highlight how changes in the rhetorical uses of the
idea made possible its 1950s breakout in climate science, then led to uses that spread it
into other sciences and into environmentalism in the 1960s, attached it to apocalyptic
environmentalism in the 1970s, injected it into partisan politics in 1980s and shaped the
political impasse during the 1990s.
The data show that the methodology reveals elements of the discourses missed in
histories emphasizing the “power of ideas,” suggesting that a focus on the usefulness of
ideas may be more fruitful. A focus on rhetorical uses of ideas grounds the causation of
intellectual change in human motivation and agency, expressed in material acts that
multiply and disperse naturally through communities and populations.

This study investigates the diversity training industry that developed throughout the 1990's and continues to develop. Specifically, this analysis examines the resistance to diversity training that comes from the cultural group of white males. It seems that the way in which diversity training is communicated might cause part of this resistance. The present study seeks to determine why a "white male backlash" exists and what reasons are given to account for the resistance. Thus, a rhetorical criticism using fantasy theme analysis is used. The essays/articles that are examined are mainly from news publications and trade journals but also include white males and diversity trainers. In examining articles that address the subject of the "white male backlash" nine themes are discovered which suggests that some white men construct a rhetorical vision of victimization in reference to diversity training: "Negative Feelings," "Targeted," "Uninformed," "Merit," "Blamed," "Stereotyped," "Must Change," "Uncertain Future" and "Other."

As the basis for major religions widely practiced in western cultures, the Pentateuch also has deeply influenced the structure of these societies. A short historical review demonstrates the secondary status women occupy in western cultures. This study focuses on uncovering the presumed existence of embedded patriarchal ideology within the Pentateuch's text. For the purpose of this study, the researcher draws on the Pentateuch as it appears in the King James Version of the Bible. By conducting an ideological rhetorical analysis of this text, this examination uncovers elements characteristic to patriarchal rhetoric promoting men's superiority and ideals as well as constricting and channeling women's identities. This ideology has contributed to depreciating women's status in western cultures, and awareness of its existence might help women in their struggle for equality.

This thesis explores the ways that certain artists-including Joseph Conrad, Alan Moore, Richard Attenborough, and Francis Ford Coppola-break from their inherited traditions in order to speak from an alternative perspective to western discourse. Conventional narrative formulas prescribe that meaning will be revealed in a definitive end, but all of the texts discussed reveal other avenues through which it is discerned. In Heart of Darkness, the tension between two divergent narratives enables Conrad to speak beyond his social context and imperialist limitations to demonstrate that identity is socially constructed. In Watchmen, Moore breaks from comic convention to illustrate ways meaning may be ascertained despite the lack of plot ends. The third chapter explores the ways that Attenborough and Coppola subvert technical and plot conventions to resist static constitutions of identity endemic to Hollywood film. The several texts discussed subvert the Self/Other duality by suggesting alternatives to the western narrative model.