Hinshaw, Wendy

Using the narrative imagery of Instagram and the cultural narrative of the
Olympics, I explore the role of agency and autonomy in modern sport with a focus on the
commercial and institutional arms of surfing. This project is an attempt to evaluate visual
and cultural narrative from the perspective of a literary scholar and to root theory and
philosophy in issues that go beyond scholarship and academics. In chapter one, I use
sports sociologists Jennifer Hargreaves and Krista Comer as well as Jean Kilbourne and
Rosalind Gill to illuminate and explore two surf-centric Instagram accounts, both of
which imagine a story of surfing through a mostly visual medium. In chapter two, I turn
to Elizabeth Grosz and Michel Foucault to help explore the institutionalized arm of
surfing through its recent inclusion in the Olympic Games.

This thesis is designed to invite scholars, writers, and teachers of rhetoric and composition pedagogy to re-evaluate the revision process as a means of inspiring and supporting first-year writers to become acquainted with their “writer’s voice.” This study explores students’ resistance towards revision and argues that recognizing and developing revision habits will help students revise independently. Self-directed revision not only strengthens a writer’s ability to engage in the writing process more astutely, but it is also a fundamental component to the self-identification process from which the writer draws inspiration. This thesis is structured into four main sections: (1) Introduction, referring to aim and methodology; (2) Chapter 1, addressing the importance of “self-directed” revision; (3) Chapter 2, a case study presenting first-year student responses to writing and revision; (4) Conclusion, discussing the relevance of implementing a strategic and shared value approach to first-year composition revision assignments.

This project examines the presence and significance of ecofeminism and pedagogy within contemporary Young Adult literatures, particularly girls’ ecofantasy literatures. Specifically, I examine the role and representations of the female body in nature and any real or perceived connections between them. To accomplish this, I bring the theories of several feminist, ecofeminist, and environmental studies scholars together with my primary texts, Green Angel and Green Witch by Alice Hoffman, to examine the depiction of the female body in nature through interconnectedness and reciprocity between human and non-human nature, green transformations, and the archetype of the witch.