The divergent archive and androcentric counterpublics: Public rhetorics, memory, and archives

Groundwater, Evin Scott

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/107919 Copy

Description

Title

The divergent archive and androcentric counterpublics: Public rhetorics, memory, and archives

Author(s)

Groundwater, Evin Scott

Issue Date

2020-04-28

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ritter, Kelly

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Ritter, Kelly

Committee Member(s)

• Mortensen, Peter
• Gallagher, John
• Enoch, Jessica

Department of Study

English

Discipline

English

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Writing Studies
• Archives

Abstract

As a field, Writing Studies has long been concerned with the rhetorical representation of both dominant and marginalized groups. However, rhetorical theory on publics and counterpublics tends not to articulate how groups persuade others of their status as mainstream or marginal. Scholars of public/counterpublic theory have not yet adequately examined the mechanisms through which rhetorical resources play a role in reinforcing and/or dispelling public perceptions of dominance or marginalization. My dissertation argues many counterpublics locate and convince others of their subject status through the development of rhetorical resources. I contend counterpublics create and curate a diffuse system of archives, which I refer to as “divergent archives.” These divergent archives often lack institutional backing, rigor, and may be primarily composed of ephemera. Drawing from a variety of archival materials both within and outside institutionally maintained archives, I explore how counterpublics perceiving themselves as marginalized construct archives of their own as a way to transmit collective memories reifying their nondominant status. I do so through a case study that has generally been overlooked in Writing Studies: a collection of men’s rights movements which imagine themselves to be marginalized, despite their generally hegemonic positions. By critically scrutinizing the rhetorical practices of these men’s movements, we come to a more nuanced theory of the rhetorical formation and position of publics. Such work also illuminates the rhetorical practices and arguments of a group poorly represented in academic research. Ultimately, I answer the question of how counterpublics that see themselves as “outside” the cultural mainstream work to convince others of that status and a need to change it.

Graduation Semester

2020-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/107919

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2020 Evin Groundwater

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