Wayne State University Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2011 Saving the home of the tadpoles one tree at a time: A framing and pedagogical analysis of Wangari Maathai's green belt movement Anke Thorey Wolbert Wayne State University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Wolbert, Anke Thorey, "Saving the home of the tadpoles one tree at a time: A framing and pedagogical analysis of Wangari Maathai's green belt movement" (2011). Wayne State University Dissertations. Paper 264. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. SAVING THE HOME OF THE TADPOLES ONE TREE AT A TIME: A FRAMING AND PEDAGOGICAL ANALYSIS OF WANGARI MAATHAI’S GREEN BELT MOVEMENT by ANKE T. WOLBERT DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2011 MAJOR: COMMUNICATION Approved by: Advisor Date © COPYRIGHT BY ANKE T. WOLBERT 2011 All Rights Reserved DEDICATION To all who believed in me when I did not. All denen gewidmet, die an mich geglaubt haben, wenn ich es nicht konnte. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support, encouragement, belief, and humor of … my loving husband, Phillip. Words cannot begin to express how blessed I am for calling you my partner. I would not have been able to even conceive of the idea of getting a Ph.D. without you. You never doubted me throughout this entire process. Whenever I questioned my choice, you reminded me why I chose this path. Whenever I wanted to quit, you pushed back. Thank you for putting up with my moods, my schedule, and 10 years of school! You are my best friend, the love of my life, the person I want to wake up next to in the morning, and the person I want to grow old with. … my family. Ihr seid immer für mich da und habt immer an mich geglaubt. Selbst wenn ich unleidlich bin oder unzugänglich für eure Vorschläge, oder wenn ich meine Sorgen vor eure stelle, ihr haltet immer zu mir. Die Entfernung zwischen uns macht es mir manchmal schwer die Schwester, Tochter und Enkelin zu sein, die ich gerne wäre. Ohne eure Unterstützung, eure Zusprache und eure Liebe hatte ich es nie so weit geschafft. Danke, dass ihr an mich glaubt und dass ihr meine Entscheidung zu Phillip zu ziehen unterstützt habt; dass ihr mich ermutigt habt, gegen den Strom zu schwimmen und für das zu khämpfen, an das ich glaube; und dass ihr mich an die Realitäten erinnert, die sich ausserhalb meiner kleinen Welt befinden. Dank euch, bin ich ich. … my mentors. I had the great fortune of meeting two of the most amazing mentors one can imagine during my undergraduate degree at Eastern Michigan University: Brendan Kelly and Ray Quiel. Brendan, thank you for luring me into Forensics. Without you I would have probably never discovered the joy of public speaking, nor would I have developed the ambition to follow iii my dreams to teach at the university level. Seeing you succeed and following your dreams is the best inspiration I could have asked for (and making it through life without blisters on my hands from rowing certainly has its benefits). Ray, thank you for challenging me, for not allowing me to content myself with faulty arguments, for introducing me to rhetorical criticism and the joys of exploring rhetoric. I hope that when I grow up, I grow up to be as inspirational and supportive to my students as you are to yours. EMU has become a home away from home in large portion because of you. … my friends, Anglesia, Nick, Steve, Richard, Amy, Lauren, Katharina, Marylou, Vanessa, Kristen, Bill, Jörg, Nadine. Thank you for not giving up on me. I know that I have not been the best friend over the last three years. I have not been in touch much with some of you and have leaned too much on others. Thank you for being the voice of reason, talking me down when I got on my soapboxes, making me laugh when I wanted to cry, being my sounding board when I got stuck; simply said, thank you for being my friends. … my committee members. Kelly and Ron, thank you for taking me on as your advisee. I know that you both have many responsibilities. Advising someone who has set her mind to finish the dissertation in her third year certainly has made this process stressful for you as well. I truly appreciate that you took a chance on me and continued to encourage me when I questioned myself. I also would like to thank you for agreeing to co-advise me. Receiving feedback from both of you has been very helpful. Sandy, your classes have broadened my horizon more than most I have taken during my academic career. Thank you for introducing me to critical pedagogy and your support in using it as a methodological tool. Dr. White, without your social movement class, I likely would not have chosen the Green Belt Movement as my dissertation topic. While I iv have had continued interest in the GBM since Maathai’s Nobel Peace Prize, I never even considered a social movement study for the dissertation. I am glad I did. … last, but certainly not least, my four-legged, tail-wagging, barking study buddies, Riley and Griffy. Having our dogs around during the writing process probably saved my sanity. Whenever I wanted to take the computer and toss it out of the window, Griffy brought me a toy to toss instead. When I felt like curling up into a ball and crying, Riley stood above me, staring at me, wagging her tail and kissing/licking me to death. They forced me to leave the house, get fresh air, and remember to take care of somebody else. Their unadulterated joy of seeing us brings a smile to my face every time. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1 – Introduction ..................................................................................................................1 History of the Green Belt Movement ...........................................................................2 Justification of Study ....................................................................................................4 Foundations of Social Movement Theory ....................................................................7 Research Questions ....................................................................................................11 Texts ...........................................................................................................................13 Organization of Study ................................................................................................15 Chapter 2 – Methodology ..............................................................................................................17 Rhetorical Criticism ...................................................................................................17 Benefits of Studying Social Movement Rhetoric .......................................................18 Framing ......................................................................................................................19 How to Conduct a Rhetorical Framing Analysis .......................................................21 Procedures ..................................................................................................................23 Contributions to the Rhetorical Study of Social Movements .....................................24 Critical Pedagogy .......................................................................................................27 Procedures ..................................................................................................................30 Chapter 3 – Framing Analysis .......................................................................................................33 Maathai’s Framing of the Green Belt Movement ......................................................33 Right Livelihood Awards Acceptance Speech ...........................................................34 “The Bottom Is Heavy Too: Even with the Green Belt Movement” – The Fifth vi Edinburgh Medal Address .....................................................................................48 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture .........................................................................................62 Summary of Findings .................................................................................................77 Chapter 4 – Pedagogical Analysis .................................................................................................81 Pedagogical Analysis of the Green Belt Movement ..................................................81 The Green Belt Movement (1985) .............................................................................82 The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience (2004) ........93 Summary of Findings ...............................................................................................102 Chapter 5 – Discussion ................................................................................................................105