Abstract Counterpublic Intellectualism: Feminist
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ABSTRACT COUNTERPUBLIC INTELLECTUALISM: FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING RHETORICS ON TUMBLR by Kyle Ross Larson This thesis introduces “counterpublic intellectualism” to the field of composition and rhetoric as an oppositional mode of intellectual public engagement. I argue that power differentials complicate public intellectualism and its modes of publicity. After building the theoretical foundation and outlining the participatory research design, I offer findings from two case studies on feminist counterpublic bloggers on Tumblr. I introduce “Farrah” of Feminist Women of Color. She uses agitational rhetoric to provoke consciousness-raising. Drawing upon Black feminist autoethnography, I argue that Farrah offers an interactional model for feminist counterpublic intellectualism. The second case study involves Liz Laribee of Saved by the bell hooks. She uses mashup memes of Saved by the Bell stills and bell hooks quotes to invoke consciousness-raising. Drawing upon Kristie Fleckenstein’s visual antinomy, I argue that Laribee offers a thematic model for feminist counterpublic intellectualism. Lastly, I discuss the broader theoretical, pedagogical implications for the field. COUNTERPUBLIC INTELLECTUALISM: FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING RHETORICS ON TUMBLR A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Kyle Ross Larson Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2016 Advisor: Jason Palmeri Reader: Katharine Ronald Reader: Tim Lockridge ©2016 Kyle Ross Larson This Thesis titled COUNTERPUBLIC INTELLECTUALISM: FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING RHETORICS ON TUMBLR by Kyle Ross Larson has been approved for publication by The College of Arts and Science and Department of English ____________________________________________________ Jason Palmeri ______________________________________________________ Katharine Ronald _______________________________________________________ Tim Lockridge Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................... iv Dedication .......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... vi Chapter One: Counterpublic Intellectualism ..................................................................... 1 Chapter Two: Methodology & Methods .......................................................................... 24 Chapter Three: Feminist Women of Color ....................................................................... 40 Chapter Four: Saved by the bell hooks ............................................................................. 60 Chapter Five: Conclusion ................................................................................................ 78 Works Cited ..................................................................................................................... 92 Appendix A ...................................................................................................................... 98 Appendix B .................................................................................................................... 100 iii List of Figures Figure 1: Post on Dominant Group Essentialism ............................................................... 1 Figure 2: Screenshot of Tumblr Dashboard ..................................................................... 17 Figure 3: Graph of FWOC Thematic Categories ............................................................. 42 Figure 4: Post on Racism of Islamophobia ...................................................................... 44 Figure 5: Meme from Just White Feminism Things ......................................................... 49 Figure 6: Response to Anonymous ‘Ask’ ........................................................................ 53 Figure 7: Meme on Educational Privilege in Feminism .................................................. 60 Figure 8: Meme on Identity & Representation ................................................................ 64 Figure 9: Meme on Nationalism & Homophobia ............................................................ 66 Figure 10: Meme on White Beauty Standards ................................................................. 67 Figure 11: Meme on Charleston Shooting ....................................................................... 70 Figure 12: Meme on Feminism as Process ...................................................................... 71 Figure 13: Meme on Black Women & White Feminism ................................................. 74 Figure 14: Meme on Resolving “The Lisa Problem” ...................................................... 75 iv Dedication For Taylor. v Acknowledgements I would first like to thank all of the participants: Taylor, Farrah, and Liz. Taylor, thank you for being a part of this research from the start. You inspired the inquiry into this subject matter, and I am grateful for your influence. I love living, experiencing, growing, and collaborating with you. You truly give another level of meaning to the word “partner.” Farrah, thank you for allowing me to earn your trust. The case study doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface on your multifaceted approaches to (counter)public engagement. Your activism inspires me. Liz, thank you for being so incredible. Your humor and wit are inspirational. I look forward to seeing you flourish in graduate school. Learning from you all was an honor and privilege. I cannot thank you enough. I would like to thank my Chair, Dr. Jason Palmeri. I remember when we first met on Skype to discuss composition and rhetoric when I was still at New College. You’ve been a mentor to me this whole time, and I am undoubtedly better for it. I would like to thank my committee, Dr. Kate Ronald and Dr. Tim Lockridge. Kate, I am extremely appreciative to have worked with such a tremendous scholar and person. I’m going to miss your Ronaldisms. I’m thrilled I had the pleasure to work with you and learn from you. Please enjoy your retirement. I would be lucky to accomplish half as much as you. Tim, your words of encouragement are always uplifting, truly reinforcing my belief in the value of this work. These words of encouragement keep me going. I couldn’t be more appreciative of all the support. vi CHAPTER ONE COUNTERPUBLIC INTELLECTUALISM: A THEORETICAL FOUNDATION Introduction Roughly a year ago, I logged into Tumblr—a social media microblogging platform—and began scrolling through the posts on my dashboard. One post particularly caught my attention (see fig. 1), and I continue to find its insights valuable: Fig. 1. Reasons for essentializing dominant groups from feministinthekitchen. What strikes me about this post is the feminist blogger’s articulate, four-sentence explanation of dominant group essentialism as a consciousness-raising rhetorical tactic. It explains that dominant group audiences tend to position themselves outside of culpability. The blogger recognizes these audiences’ evasion of critical self-awareness and uses essentialism to provoke their accountability. For this reason, fig. 1 exhibits a form of counterpublic intellectualism about writing and rhetoric. The post also resonates with me on a personal level. As a White, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied man, I have a lot of privileges—one of them being not needing to know what I don’t know about power, privilege, and oppression. I would have once contested this type of essentialism as inaccurate or inexact. But this contestation would be 1 an oversimplification of the rhetorical ways in which language operates. In other words, it would confine language to literal interpretations, thereby positioning language acontextually outside of the social realm. In this way, the critical work of feminists on Tumblr assisted me and continues to assist me in the never-ending process of becoming critically conscious. Although having encountered the post with this understanding, I remember wishing to have come across it sooner. As I continue to reflect on this post, I often think about its insights in relation to my students—many of who come from privileged backgrounds. One of my White students in the 2016 spring semester expressed disapproval of dominant group essentialism during a class discussion on racial justice activism. Connecting my past and present consciousness, I aim to guide students through critical reflection on their assumptions while also recognizing the intellectual and emotional labor required of them to do so. I drew from this post’s insights in this pedagogical moment, asking the student about the possible reasons behind this essentialism. The critical feminist discourse on Tumblr exists as a consciousness-raising intellectualism in this way, thereby inspiring me to research it for this thesis. Indeed, Paul Butler calls for academics in the field of composition and rhetoric to undertake the role of public intellectual in order to engage “the public sphere” in discussions concerning writing and rhetoric: “Within the context of composition studies, public intellectuals can accurately convey the field’s theoretical knowledge about writing to the general public” (392). At the same time, he doesn’t complicate the dominant tradition of public intellectualism. For this reason, I undertake Christian Weisser’s call