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The Rhetorical Invention of Collectivity in Peaceful View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The University of Utah: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library WELCOME TO THE MACHINE: THE RHETORICAL INVENTION OF COLLECTIVITY IN PEACEFUL UPRISING by Megan O’Byrne A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Communication The University of Utah December 2017 Copyright © Megan O’Byrne 2017 All Rights Reserved T he University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Megan O’Byrne has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: Danielle Endres , Chair 8/17/2017 Date Approved Mary S. Strine , Member 8/17/2017 Date Approved Leonard C. Hawes , Member 8/17/2017 Date Approved Tarla Rai Peterson , Member 8/17/2017 Date Approved Brett Clark , Member 8/17/2017 Date Approved and by Danielle Endres , Chair/Dean of the Department/College/School of Communication and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT Peaceful Uprising grew out of civil disobedience actions taken in 2008 by Tim DeChristopher on behalf of the environment, when he illegally bid on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land parcels to withhold them from businesses that would exploit that land. The resulting collective is the focus of this dissertation. The examination of the collective Peaceful Uprising reveals how collectivity is essential to social protest and how it is a rhetorical process that is essential to social movement rhetoric. This collectivity is defined as both a group that makes a whole and the qualities that make up and maintain that group, such as feelings of belonging, staying power, and an affect of hope. Additionally, these are the major rhetorical processes by which a social movement creates and maintains a sense of the collective. In understanding how collectivity is created and maintained within social movements, machines of mobilization—the active creation and deployment of a collectivist cultural assemblage focused on social protest and change—is a unique heuristic that allows social movement rhetoric scholars to better understand the rhetorical invention of collectivity. The rhetorical processes of collectivity and machines of mobilization are primarily examined through the participatory critical research (PCR) method, wherein I became part of the Peaceful Uprising movement in order to critically observe how they, as a machine of mobilization, interact with the state; how they use music/song rhetorically, particularly the utilization of citationality; and their use of place/ space, especially in a post-9/11 world of restrictions. For those fighting the good fight. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii Chapters 1. INTRODUCING THE RHETORICAL INVENTION OF COLLECTIVITY AND MACHINES OF MOBILIZATION ...................................................................................1 The Role of Collectivity in Social Movement Rhetoric ...............................................4 Theoretical Framework—Machines of Mobilization ...................................................7 Critical Approach ........................................................................................................ 13 Methods....................................................................................................................... 29 Chapters Preview ........................................................................................................ 34 2. PEACEFUL UPRISING: THE CASE .......................................................................... 39 Announcing the Charges ............................................................................................. 42 Inventing Peaceful Uprising ....................................................................................... 44 The Legal Push/Pull .................................................................................................... 45 The Trials .................................................................................................................... 48 3. RADIANT SHADES OF GRAY: THE WAR MACHINE AND THE STATE .......... 52 Theoretical Perspective: War Machine and State ....................................................... 54 Method ........................................................................................................................ 62 A Changing State ........................................................................................................ 64 Embodied Protest Tactics ........................................................................................... 71 Becoming Tactical ...................................................................................................... 74 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 83 4. SINGING LIKE A MOVEMENT: AFFECTING MACHINES .................................. 86 Group Singing ............................................................................................................. 87 Machining Affect: Theoretical Development ............................................................. 94 Affecting Methods .......................................................................................................99 Singing Like a Movement ..........................................................................................104 Conclusion .................................................................................................................121 5. BEING NEITHER-HERE-NOR-THERE: THE POLITICS OF PROXIMITY IN PROTEST ........................................................................................................................124 Conceptualizing Space and Place ..............................................................................127 Method .......................................................................................................................133 The BLM Parcels as Place-Based Rhetoric ...............................................................135 Place-as-Rhetoric .......................................................................................................149 Conclusion .................................................................................................................156 6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................159 Primary Findings ........................................................................................................160 Contributions to Literature .........................................................................................164 Lessons Learned.........................................................................................................172 Implications and Areas for Future Study ...................................................................174 Appendices A. BECOMING-BIDDER 70 ..........................................................................................182 B. MAP OF BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT PARCELS ..................................183 WORKS CITED ..............................................................................................................184 vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING THE RHETORICAL INVENTION OF COLLECTIVITY AND MACHINES OF MOBILIZATION Near the conclusion of his second presidential term, George W. Bush authorized the sale of oil and gas rights on properties that had not previously been available for drilling (Magill, 2009c). This sale involved parcels of land adjacent to protected areas in Utah including Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dinosaur National Monument (Magill, 2009c). This sale, an auction conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 19, 2008, did not go unnoticed. It was challenged on several fronts prior to the sale date by organizations and individuals that lobbied for widespread reconsideration of the parcels on the block, as many of them were adjacent to federally protected park lands (Sands, 2010). In addition to before-the-fact contestations, which did not have the effect of removing all of the parcels from the lease offer, there were also onsite protests the day of the auction. Notable among those who showed up to protest the auction was Tim DeChristopher, a University of Utah student and long-time environmental activist. Having grown tired of the legal avenues of protest (i.e., sign holding, letter writing, persuading representatives), DeChristopher took a unique opportunity to amplify his protest efforts by engaging in civil disobedience when he was mistakenly offered a 2 bidding paddle for the auction. In obtaining the paddle, DeChristopher misrepresented himself as an eligible bidder willing to pay for any leases he won. Given this unique series of events, he opted to capitalize on this case of mistaken identity, treating it as an opportunity to circumvent the system and attempt to protect the parcels from gas and oil development (K. Johnson, 2009; Magill, 2009a; Sands, 2009b). Using bidder paddle number 70, he won 14 parcels of land for which he could not possibly pay. While other protesters chose more traditional, culturally sanctioned, or legal tactics that day, DeChristopher seized the opportunity to protest climate
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