Lived Ethos in Norwegian America: Rhetorical Education and Practice DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Erika Claire Strandjord, M.A. Graduate Program in English The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Nan Johnson, Advisor Dorothy Noyes James Fredal Elizabeth Weiser Copyright by Erika Claire Strandjord 2013 Abstract The rhetorical concept of ethos describes how people create character, authority, and identity in persuasive texts and acts. While ethos is usually understood as constructed in the moment, this study extends the scope of ethos to encompass everyday actions. Cultivating an ethos that is imitated and lived out in daily life and not just in textual productions means that the ethos becomes what this study calls lived ethos. This study uses rhetoric and folklore scholarship to theorize lived ethos and the rhetorical education that teaches this ethos. Furthermore, this study analyzes the rhetorical education presented by three institutions in the Norwegian-American community in order to examine how an education in lived ethos functions in the community. Chapter two explores how the fraternal organization Sons of Norway selected elements of the Norwegian and Norwegian-American past to create an admirable and imitable ethos for the present. Using archival materials that from the late years of World War I through the end of World War II, this chapter argues that Sons of Norway used exemplars to create a more-than-American identity that Norwegian Americans could generally identify with and also presented members with exemplars that spoke to the different interests and demographics in the community. Chapter three proposes a new site of rhetorical exploration: handcrafts. The work of two instructors, Harley Refsal and Kate Martinson, at the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, Iowa demonstrates how handcraft education persuades students to take up ii Norwegian-American identifications. Martinson and Refsal use historical and contemporary exemplars, examples of craft, and the teaching of practice to persuade students to take up practices like woodcarving and nålbinding (a netting technique) as an expression of a Norwegian-American ethos. The learning and practicing of a handcraft leads to an ethos that is lived out in the everyday practice of the handcraft. Chapter four examines how Old World Wisconsin, an outdoor museum focused on immigrant history, persuades people to identify with their own immigrant history through the use of imaginative empathy, engaging the senses, and taking action within historical environments. Two Norwegian immigrant farmhouses and a school give Norwegian-American visitors a chance to forge identifications with the histories of inequality, struggle, and tradition portrayed at the sites. Norwegian-American visitors create a deeper empathetic tie to the past and can reflect on how present-day practices and everyday life are tied to the past. Lived ethos links individuals to communities by bringing the past into the present and by persuading community members to see everyday practices as expressions of identity. Lived ethos invites scholars to consider how everyday rhetorical acts shape the world around us and lead to complex identifications that cannot be reduced to a single label like “American.” The move to a more complicated understanding of ethos as it is lived in daily life supports an understanding of individuals and communities as complicated, shifting, and most importantly, mutually sustaining. Lived ethos enables a iii rich understanding of identity and rhetorical strategies that use the past to shape the present and open doors for analysis, reflection, and pedagogy. iv Dedication To my parents and my sister, my original (and favorite) exemplars. Mange tusen takk. v Acknowledgments This project never would have happened without the support of many different people and institutions. My thanks first to the staff of the sites where I conducted research. Jeff Sauve and Gary De Krey at the Norwegian-American Historical Association archives in Northfield, Minnesota provided invaluable assistance in locating historical materials produced by Sons of Norway. My thanks also to NAHA for allowing the use of images of Sons of Norway texts. Kate Martinson, Darlene Fossum-Martin, Charlie Langton, and Harley Refsal all generously gave their time to make my research at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum a success. Their interest in and enthusiasm for my project reminded me that my work matters beyond the academy. Finally, thanks to the curatorial staff at Old World Wisconsin who took time from their busy schedules to provide interviews and training materials that gave me a behind-the-scenes look at the museum and its operations. Without the support of everyone at these sites this project could not have happened. Many thanks are due to my committee. Nan Johnson knew when to push, when to question, and when to say “go for it!” She has influenced me as a scholar and a teacher, and I hope to follow her example. The excellent reading suggestions and insightful criticism that Dorothy Noyes gave added a new and necessary dimension to my work as a rhetorician. James Fredal introduced me to the study of rhetoric at the graduate level, and his enthusiasm for the subject and support of my work made graduate school more vi enjoyable. For her enthusiasm about my project alone Elizabeth Weiser deserves thanks, but her ability to see the arguments I was trying to make in early drafts of chapters helped me more than I can say. Without Elizabeth Brewer and Deborah Kuzawa the early chapters of this project would have been much harder to write. Their support, comments, and conversation reminded me that scholarship should be an interesting discussion that invites people to contribute. Julia Voss, Jen Herman, and Katherine DeLuca provided wonderful encouragement and aid during the final weeks of writing and revising. Annie Mendenhall and Paige Banaji deserve thanks for the many intangible contributions they made. Taylor came to the rescue more than once, and his unflagging support of and confidence in my abilities made all the difference. Finally, without my parents and my sister this project never would have happened. Thank you for introducing me to Norwegian America even though you had no idea that those “heritage trips” would end up inspiring this project. Thanks also for being with me and cheering me on every step of the way. Every page of this dissertation is for you, but I will not make you read it. vii Vita 2002................................................................River Valley High School 2006................................................................B.A. English, Luther College 2008................................................................M.A. English, The Ohio State University 2009 to 2010 Graduate Administrative Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University 2010 to present Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: English viii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. x List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ xi Introductory Anecdote .................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Lived Ethos and Rhetorical Education .................................................................... 4 Learning and Living Ethos: Rhetorical Education and its Effects ........................................... 12 Usable Pasts and Exemplars in Lived Ethos .............................................................................................. 24 The Role of Tradition in Lived Ethos ............................................................................................................ 35 The Education in and Expression of Lived Ethos through Practice ................................................ 50 The Results of Lived Ethos ................................................................................................................................ 59 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................ 67 Chapter 2: “To maintain and further interest in everything that is good and noble”: History, Exemplars, and Lived Ethos in Sons of Norway, 1918-1946 ..................................... 71 Sons of Norway: History and Ethos in New Contexts .................................................................. 74 The Usable Past: Crafting Ethos in Times of Change .................................................................. 88 Customizable Exemplars: Norwegian National Heroes, Workers, and Women ............. 122 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................