Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2014 Precarious Positions: Toward a Theory and Analysis of Rhetorical Vulnerability David Riche Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Riche, David, "Precarious Positions: Toward a Theory and Analysis of Rhetorical Vulnerability" (2014). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1315. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1315 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. PRECARIOUS POSITIONS: TOWARD A THEORY AND ANALYSIS OF RHETORICAL VULNERABILITY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduated Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by David J. Riche B.A., Loyola University New Orleans, 2007 M.A., Louisiana State University, 2009 August 2014 For my family. For my friends. For all those who are both. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Vulnerability, as I describe it in this project, reminds us that we need others in our lives in order to know and change ourselves. With that in mind, I take great pleasure in acknowledging those others who have supported me throughout these last seven years of intensive graduate studies. These others—including supportive family, dedicated friends, and brilliant colleagues—have consciously and unconsciously shaped me into who I am today, and my debt to them is one that I can never repay. My specialization in Rhetoric and Composition began seven years ago with an eager but ambiguous interest in the field, and I owe my professional development since then to a remarkably supportive and thought-provoking team of advisors and colleagues. I count myself very fortunate to have worked closely with Irvin Peckham, my friend and dissertation chair, who has stood beside me even through incredibly difficult times. His patient yet brilliant guidance, his faith in my abilities, and his dedication to my success as both a graduate student and a person have been invaluable to me ever since the first day I spoke to him in Allen Hall about models for writing pedagogy. I am also very thankful for the tremendous mentorship of Brooke Rollins, who taught my very first graduate seminar in rhetorical studies and subsequently honed my ability to perceive not only the available means of rhetoric, but also the availability that makes rhetoric possible. This project would not exist without her guidance. My conversations with James Catano, who continuously reminded me to stay focused and never lose sight of my goals, have been some of the most productive and memorable conversations I have had in graduate school, and I sincerely hope that this project demonstrates the kind of focus he has encouraged in me all along. And I am deeply indebted to Lillian Bridwell-Bowles for her outstanding iii friendship and mentorship. She has seen me vulnerable on numerous occasions and seized those kairotic moments to make me stronger, wiser, and kinder. I thank them all here, but I know that no gesture of thanks will ever be enough to repay them for these last seven years. Still, thank you. Of course, my advisors are not the only colleagues to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. Susan Weinstein has been an informal mentor to me ever since I enrolled in her seminar on Ethnographies of Literacy, and her insightful observations have strengthened not only my teaching and writing but also my confidence. I thank her especially for her support during my time as an extern for the Iberville Parish School District and as a member of the Red Stick Writing Teachers Collective. Barbara Heifferon, who guided me as both an assistant administrator and graduate student through a difficult year, has offered me patient and insightful feedback since the day we met, and she has even gone the extra mile to remind me that I need to take care of myself as well as others. Sarah Liggett gave me the opportunity to continue my undergraduate work with writing centers and tutoring, and I thank her for reminding me that writing pedagogy involves more than just lectures and workshops. I am also thankful to have worked with Dan Novak and Michelle Massé, whose critical but generous readings of my professional documents have given me what I need to pursue the next stage of my career. Likewise, Christy Foreman’s insightful observations of my teaching practices have encouraged me to feel confident in my pedagogy while continuing to improve. Finally, I am grateful to have worked with so many wonderful English instructors (past and present) at LSU, including Christina Armistead, Renee Major, Ann Martin, Martha Strohschein, Eric Schmitt, Randolph Thomas, June Pulliam, Elin Epperson, and many others. iv I am also deeply grateful for the friendships and support networks I have made with fellow graduate students (past and present) here at LSU. My thanks to Catherine Riley, Mitch Frye, Doris Frye, Melinda Mauntel, Anna West, Penelope Dane, Cara E. Jones, Kevin Casper, Laura Jones, Laura Marks, Monica Miller, Corrie Kiesel, Christine Jeansonne, Ryan McGuckin, My Nguyen, Kristi Melancon, Katherine Willis, Greg Molchan, and many others. In particular, I’d like to thank Catherine Riley for her dedicated friendship over the years and her patience with me as I wrestled with the same doubts over and over again. We’ve both come a long way since the day we first met in Robert Hamm’s training seminar for new teaching assistants. And special thanks to Christine Jeansonne and Ryan McGuckin, who began their own graduate careers while generously supporting me in the completion of mine. Finally, I’d like to thank Dr. Lillian Bridwell-Bowles and the graduate students in her Classical Rhetoric Seminar (Spring 2014) for sharing their writing with me. I am forever indebted to my loving family for their ongoing support and confidence. I am especially thankful for my parents who offered me room to grow (literally and figuratively) as well as unconditional support in the pursuit of my education. They are two of my best friends and finest inspirations, and I continue to draw strength from them in everything I do. I also thank my siblings, who set a high standard of excellence that encouraged me to always do more. I will cherish them always. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION CONDITION, POSITION, PERSUASION: VULNERABILITY AND RHETORICAL STUDIES ........................................................1 CHAPTER I VULNERABILITY STUDIES: A CONCERN ACROSS DISCIPLINES ...........................................................................14 CHAPTER II THE ARTISTRY OF OUTRAGE: THE RHETORIC OF THE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH ......................................53 CHAPTER III STRATEGIC VULNERABILITY: DECORUM IN RESPONSE TO TROLLING RHETORIC ...........................................112 CHAPTER IV COMPOSING HOLES: REDACTANCE AS RESISTANCE TO HATE WRITING ...........................................134 WORKS CITED ..............................................................................................................158 APPENDIX A TODD KINCANNON’S TWITTER-TROLLING ..........................................................170 APPENDIX B REDACTANCE POEMS ................................................................................................174 VITA ................................................................................................................................186 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Blackout poems at American University (photo from Culp-Ressler) ..............135 Figure 2: “Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Memorial of Sgt. Brian L. Walker” .......150 Figure 3: Blackout poem created from previous press release ........................................151 Figure 4: “Exhibit A. WBC will remind you to retain knowledge” ................................156 vii ABSTRACT In “Precarious Positions: Toward a Theory and Analysis of Rhetorical Vulnerability,” I develop a framework for treating rhetoric as a system for managing vulnerabilities to and through discourse. I contend that, through rhetoric, we are all put into a fundamentally precarious position, an unavoidable state of exposure to material, social, institutional, and rhetorical forces that work to condition us as both agents and audiences. Rhetoric is not simply something we use; it is also something that we respond to, something to which we are continuously exposed, whether we like it or not. There is, in other words, a necessary concern for vulnerability at the heart of rhetorical theory and praxis, which makes it possible to analyze rhetorical genres and situations in terms of how vulnerabilities are managed by rhetors, audiences, and others. In my first chapter, I examine current scholarship on vulnerability