Eastern Illinois University The Keep Faculty Research and Creative Activity Communication Studies January 2010 Theorizing the Transcendent Persona: Amelia Earhart’s Vision in The unF of It Robin E. Jensen Purdue University Erin F. Doss Purdue University Claudia Irene Janssen Eastern Illinois University,
[email protected] Sherrema A. Bower Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/commstudies_fac Part of the Organizational Communication Commons Recommended Citation Jensen, Robin E.; Doss, Erin F.; Janssen, Claudia Irene; and Bower, Sherrema A., "Theorizing the Transcendent Persona: Amelia Earhart’s Vision in The unF of It" (2010). Faculty Research and Creative Activity. 6. http://thekeep.eiu.edu/commstudies_fac/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication Studies at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Research and Creative Activity by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Theorizing the Transcendent Persona: Amelia Earhart’s Vision in The Fun of It Robin E. Jensen, Erin F. Doss, Claudia I. Janssen, & Sherrema A. Bower In this article, we define and theorize the ‘‘transcendent persona,’’ a discursive strategy in which a rhetor draws from a boundary-breaking accomplishment and utilizes the symbolic capital of that feat to persuasively delineate unconventional ways of communicating and behaving in society. Aviator Amelia Earhart’s autobiography The Fun of It (1932) functions as an instructive representative anecdote of this concept and demonstrates that the transcendent persona’s persuasive force hinges on one’s ability to balance distance from audiences with similarities to them.