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Lopez, M.A., B.S. ***** The Ohio State University 2000 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Susan Kline, Adviser Professor Mary Garrett Adviser Professor David Horn Communication Graduate Program ABSTRACT In the rhetoric of science, there a striking absence: there is no feminist perspective expressed in the project. Currently there is very little published work on women in science or gender in science within this project. Moreover, feminist critiques of science, an interdisciplinary project that constitutes a substantial body of work, does not seem to have had an influence on rhetoric of science. This dissertation is an attempt to address this absence by creating a space for feminist criticism within rhetoric of science. This involves a reorientation in practices of rhetorical criticism and the development of an approach to criticism grounded in a theory, method and politics of articulation. The starting point of inquiry is the problem of biological determinism, a reductive perspective that explains sexual difference in terms of biology. Biological determinism naturalizes and justifies systems of sexual difference in which men and women are positioned in relations of hierarchy and antagonism. In this project rhetorical criticism involves the disassembling of biological determinism. The three analysis chapters involve a feminist critique of three contemporary evolutionary biologists: Margie Profet, Robin Baker, and Lynn Marguhs. All three scientists have written about sexuality from the perspective of evolutionary theory. The analysis treats their scientific narratives as sites of struggle over meaning, in this case over the production of sexual difference and representations of male and female bodies. The analysis considers the ways in which some scientific narratives on evolution and sex reinforce dominant ii perspectives on gender and sexuality, while others reconceptualize sexual difference and sexuality from within evolutionary biology. Ill For Tom, m y symbiote IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project was formulated during a time I traveled back and forth between my rhetoric classes and my classes in Comparative Studies. This dissertation is the product of m y interdisciplinary wanderings, and I have faculty in both departments to thank, particularly the members of my committee. First I would like to thank my advisor, Mary Garrett, for her acumen, her considerable patience and support and her good humor. David Horn's classes on comparative studies of science were an inspiration to me, and I am grateful that I wandered into them. I am touched by Susan Kline's tremendous support and enthusiasm, and greatly appreciate the conversations we have had, especially over the past few weeks. I would also like to thank K. Viswanath for his encouragement and su p p o rt This project would not have been possible without my fellow graduate students in Communication at Ohio State. I am very grateful for the friendships I have made here. In particular I would like to thank Kellie Hay, Marie Garland, Ted Matula and Jeff Sens. Pam Tracy has been so supportive in so many ways, and I treasure our conversations. I only hope that I can reciprocate her support as she continues with her own work. I am particular indebted to Laura Sells for thirteen years of conversations and cannot imagine having carried out this project without her. My family has been tremendously supportive throughout this process. I would Hke to thank my parents, BasUio and Use Lopez, for their generosity and for instilling in me a love of reading. My sisters, Silvia Lopez-Jensen and Patricia Lopez, are also my closest friends and I especially appreciate their sharp senses of humor. In that sense, my brother-in-law, Michael Lopez-Jensen fits right in with the family and I am glad he is part of it- Finally, I would like to thank Tom Schumacher, for his typing and editing and so much more. I could not have done this without him. VI VTTA 20 August 1962 ............................................Bom - St. Jolm% Newfoundland, C anada 1984 ................................................................B.S. C om m unication Studies, Northwestern University 1990................................................................M. A. Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin, Madison 1987-1989,1990-1991..................................Instructor, Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin, Madison 1997................................................................Instructor, Denison University 1993-1999.......................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Communication vu TABLE OF CONTENTS Page A bstract .................................................................................................................................... ii D edication...............................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments................................................................................................................. v Vita...........................................................................................................................................vii Chapters: 1. Litroduction: Rhetoric of Science and the Practice of Rhetorical Criticism.... 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................1 A Brief History of Rhetoric of Science ......................................................................... 3 Critical Pluralism and the Effects of Disdphnarity ................................................11 "Signature" Rhetorical Critidsm and Strategic Consdousness ...........................20 Condusion and Project Overview ...............................................................................26 2. A Rhetoric of Laughter: Rhetorical Critidsm and the Politics of Articulation ...................................................................................................................... 33 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 33 Theories of Articulation. ...............................................................................................36 A Rhetoric of Laughter ..................................................................................................38 The Critical Object ........................................................................................................42 Points of Articulation: Author and Critic .................................................................49 C ondusion........................................................................................................................51 3. Margie Profet's Maverick Sdence: Menstruation and Metaphor in Evolutionary Biology.................................................................................................. 53 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 53 What is a Maverick Sdentist? ..................................................................................... 55 The Role of Metaphor .....................................................................................................59 Menstrual Mechanisms ..................................................................................................64 viii NOTE TO USERS Page(s) missing in number only; text follows. Page(s) were microfilmed as received. ix and x This reproduction is the best copy available UMT Immunology and Menstruation. ................................................................................70