MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Leigh Gruwell Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________ Jason Palmeri, Director _______________________________________________________ Heidi McKee, Reader _______________________________________________________ Kate Ronald, Reader _______________________________________________________ Michele Simmons, Reader _______________________________________________________ Gaile Pohlhaus, Graduate School Representative MULTIMODAL FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGIES: NETWORKED RHETORICAL AGENCY AND THE MATERIALITY OF DIGITAL COMPOSING by Leigh Gruwell Composition specialists have long recognized how online writing technologies call into question our notions of what it means to write, and how they might offer opportunities for resistance and empowerment, particularly when it comes to gendered identities and epistemologies. But there is no doubt that the internet—like any technology—is embedded in networks of power that govern the production of knowledge, identities, and agency. In this project, I employ a person-based, feminist materialist methodology to map these networks in three online spaces (Wikipedia, Ravelry, and Feminist Frequency) in order to develop a theory of multimodal feminist epistemologies. By foregrounding the materiality of composing, multimodal feminist epistemologies help rhetors reflect on their embodied positions within larger networks, in addition to highlighting the overlapping networks of power that produce identity and agency. Embracing this subversive multimodal textuality will enable researchers, students, internet users, and web designers to acknowledge the diverse locations of identity production and explore alternative epistemologies, ultimately facilitating more ethical and effective rhetorical action online. The value of a multimodal feminist epistemology, then, lies in its ability to articulate new ways of being and knowing— and that can ultimately equip us to make the internet, as well as the rest of the world, a more inclusive, empowering place. MULTIMODAL FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGIES: NETWORKED RHETORICAL AGENCY AND THE MATERIALITY OF DIGITAL COMPOSING A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English by Leigh Gruwell Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2015 Dissertation Director: Jason Palmeri © Leigh Gruwell 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE Material Questions: Feminism, Multimodality, and Digital Spaces................................................1 CHAPTER TWO Wikipedia’s Politics of Exclusion: Gender, Epistemology, and Feminist Rhetorical (In)Action...............................................................................................30 CHAPTER THREE Ravelry: Weaving a Multimodal Feminist Epistemology.............................................................62 CHAPTER FOUR Feminist Frequency and Networks of Identity, Circulation, and Resistance................................94 CHAPTER FIVE Reading, Resisting, and Remaking: Multimodal Feminist Epistemologies at Work..................128 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................143 APPENDIX A..............................................................................................................................168 APPENDIX B..............................................................................................................................172 iii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1......................................................................................................................................31 FIGURE 2......................................................................................................................................39 FIGURE 3......................................................................................................................................42 FIGURE 4......................................................................................................................................67 FIGURE 5......................................................................................................................................67 FIGURE 6......................................................................................................................................75 FIGURE 7......................................................................................................................................75 FIGURE 8......................................................................................................................................76 FIGURE 9......................................................................................................................................77 FIGURE 10....................................................................................................................................83 FIGURE 11....................................................................................................................................86 FIGURE 12....................................................................................................................................87 FIGURE 13..................................................................................................................................101 FIGURE 14..................................................................................................................................105 FIGURE 15..................................................................................................................................108 FIGURE 16..................................................................................................................................117 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project has its roots in so many places: graduate seminars, conferences, back porches, and bars. I have been fortunate to work alongside many talented and inspiring people during my time at Miami and am especially grateful for the support of the English department and the fellowship that allowed me to complete this dissertation. My chair, Jason Palmeri, has encouraged me from the start and has shown me what kind of scholar I want to be. His guidance and friendship are invaluable. I am also indebted to my outstanding committee: Heidi McKee, Kate Ronald, Michele Simmons, and Gaile Pohlhaus. I thank them for their passion, wisdom, and wit —I am lucky to call them mentors. There are many, many other people who have helped me think my way through this dissertation. In particular, Morgan Leckie, Natalie Szymanski, Kevin Rutherford, Jonathan Bradshaw, and Rory Lee have all been generous with their time and insight. I am better for it. My colleagues at Miami and beyond have all contributed in significant ways to this project and I am thankful for such a vibrant community of scholars and teachers. I am also appreciative of my students at Miami, whose energy and intellect have challenged me to be the teacher they deserve. And, finally, I must acknowledge the unending love, support, and humor of my husband, Veikko. He is my partner in every way, and I thank him for making this possible. v Chapter 1 Material Questions: Feminism, Multimodality, and Digital Spaces In 1998, digital feminist scholars Gail E. Hawisher and Patricia Sullivan declared that “feminists must harness the new technologies to serve their own political and social goals” (p. 195). More than fifteen years (and countless technological innovations) later, however, it is still not entirely clear how feminists might best utilize digital writing technologies. On Wikipedia, for instance, a female editor finds that the community does not recognize her expertise, and her edits are erased. Meanwhile, a knitter on the fibercraft website Ravelry posts a photo of her latest project, and in the process contributes to a multimodal community that values local and global knowledges alike. And with the web series Feminist Frequency, an activist utilizes subversive networks as well as her embodied experiences to challenge sexist representations and resist gendered harassment. These examples, all drawn from case studies in this project, illustrate how online spaces are embedded in networks of power that govern the production of knowledge, identities, and agency (A. J. Banks, 2006; Nakamura, 2008; Selfe & Selfe, 1994). Composition specialists have long recognized how online writing technologies call into question our notions of what it means to write (C. Selfe, 1999; Welch 1999; Wysocki 2001; Yancey, 2004) and can offer opportunities for resistance and empowerment, particularly when it comes to gendered identities and epistemologies (LeCourt & Barnes, 1999; Rhodes, 2005; L. Sullivan, 1997). But how do marginalized groups gain access to these spaces? How do they make their voices heard? And how can they take advantage of multimodal texts—and textual networks—to intervene in the discourses that render them “marginalized” in the first place? In this dissertation, I address these questions by tracing how three different spaces— Wikipedia, Ravelry, and Feminist Frequency—alternately enable and constrain feminist rhetorical action rooted in multimodal feminist epistemologies. To do so, I build on a long history of computers and composition scholarship that recognizes digital writing