University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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

Groundwater, Evin Scott

Content Files
GROUNDWATER-DISSERTATION-2020.pdf

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

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
Date of Ingest
2020-08-26T21:54:29Z
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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Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
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Dissertations from the Dept. of English