The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of the Liberal Arts PEACE CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS A Thesis in Communication Arts and Sciences by Casey Malone Maugh Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2007 The thesis of Casey Malone Maugh was reviewed and approved* by the following: Stephen H. Browne Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences Thesis Advisor Chair of Committee J. Michael Hogan Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences Rosa Eberly Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences & English Jeanne Lynn Hall Associate Professor of Communications James Dillard Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences Head of the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT In 1961 John F. Kennedy founded the Peace Corps. After 45 years of continual international service, the organization has nearly 8,000 volunteers serving in 67 countries throughout the world. Throughout the years the organization has struggled to gain presidential support and funding, as well as recruit well-rounded volunteers. After years of falling volunteer numbers, in 2003, the Peace Corps revamped its campaign to appeal to a broader volunteer audience. The recruitment strategies differ from those in the 1960s, appealing to the pragmatic benefits of service rather than the idealistic appeals used in the early years of the organization. This work includes an analysis of the organization’s recruitment strategies both textual and visual as well as an analysis of volunteer accounts of service. This study culminates in a look toward the future of the organization, in hopes of revealing the direction of the Peace Corps in the 21st century. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. Introduction: Peace Corps and the 21st Century.........................................1 The Peace Corps' Past...........................................................................................3 Sacrifice and Service ............................................................................................12 Characterizing the 21st Century ............................................................................15 The State of Civic Engagement.....................................................................17 Political Disengagement................................................................................20 Redefining Civic Engagement.......................................................................22 Review of Literature.............................................................................................26 Justification for this Study....................................................................................29 Arrangement of this Study....................................................................................31 Chapter 2. Recruiting the 21st Century Volunteer: PSA and Web Site Rhetoric.........34 New Recruitment Rhetoric ...................................................................................36 Public Service Announcements ............................................................................40 Magazine and Newspaper..............................................................................42 Radio..............................................................................................................46 Television ......................................................................................................49 Billboards ......................................................................................................52 The Web Site - www.peacecorps.org ...................................................................54 General Recruitment......................................................................................56 Changing Educational Requirements ............................................................58 Transitions .....................................................................................................59 Older Americans............................................................................................60 People of Color..............................................................................................62 Recruitment Images.......................................................................................65 Making Peace Corps a Household Name .............................................................67 Chapter 3. Framing the World: Visual Recruitment Rhetoric .....................................70 Rhetoric of Images................................................................................................72 Idealizing the Developing World..........................................................................77 Images of the Developing World..........................................................................80 The Smile.......................................................................................................80 Dress..............................................................................................................82 At Rest or At Play..........................................................................................85 The Elderly ....................................................................................................87 Animals..........................................................................................................88 Nature ............................................................................................................89 The Peace Corps' Image .......................................................................................90 Visual Rhetorics are Constructed Under the Pressure of Society .................91 v Visual Rhetorics are Politically Charged and Ideologically Bound..............92 Visual Rhetorics are Bound by Narrative and Constructive of New Narratives ...............................................................................................93 Volunteer Blog Photos..........................................................................................94 Chapter 4. Beyone the New Frontier: The Volunteer Perspective...............................98 Peace Corps Volunteer Web logs .........................................................................102 Why Blog?.....................................................................................................103 Motivation for Volunteering..........................................................................106 Work..............................................................................................................109 Boredom ........................................................................................................111 Sustainability .................................................................................................114 Integration......................................................................................................115 Adjusting to a New Culture and Cultural Stereotypes ..................................117 New and Different Experiences.....................................................................121 Visitors and Vacations...................................................................................124 Peace Corps Critique and Commentary ........................................................126 Readjustment and Reflections .......................................................................127 The Third Goal .....................................................................................................128 Chapter 5. Looking Forward: Peace Corps' Future......................................................130 The September 11th Effect ....................................................................................132 Freedom Corps......................................................................................................133 Independent Status of Peace Corps.......................................................................135 NCS and the Military............................................................................................137 New Directions .....................................................................................................141 Notes ..........................................................................................................................146 Bibliography ................................................................................................................171 Chapter 1 Introduction: Peace Corps and the 21st century How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world? On your willingness to do that, not merely to serve one year or two years in the service, but on your willingness to contribute part of your life to this country, I think will depend the answer {sic} whether a free society can compete. I think it can! And I think Americans are willing to contribute. But the effort must be far greater than we have ever made in the past.1 At two o’clock in the morning on October 24, 1960, Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy revealed his idea for the Peace Corps to a crowd of anxious University of Michigan students. That night on the steps of the Student Union Building, Kennedy began to harness the enthusiasm