The rhetoric of W.E.B. Du Bois contributed both to a sense of group failure among blacks and a sense of individual failure. Du Bois also created a need to explain the reasons for the failure of the group, as well as that of individuals within the group, specifically those within a segment of the black population deemed the talented tenth. Today the talented tenth is more generally spoken of as those occupying positions within the black middle class. Explanations for failure among blacks as a group are generally of two kinds. The first posits that the failure blacks experience as a group is due to the failure of the talented tenth to provide adequate leadership of the race. The second posits that the failure blacks experience as a group is due to the failure of American society to commit itself to establishing not only legal equality but also social, political, and economic equality for all Americans. Members of the talented tenth, not understanding that the root of the problem lies with the impossible situation Du Bois placed them in as saviors of the race begin to attribute perceived failures among blacks to American society. Instead of questioning Du Bois's goal and the possibility for complete 'racial uplift,' members of the talented tenth begin to question American society's commitment to realize the goals of the civil rights movement. Rather than optimism, one finds pessimism among blacks in the post-civil rights era. I examine Shelby Steele, Derrick Bell, and Randall Robinson's texts as rhetorical discourses that respond to the notion of a debt owed to the race, and evidence a sense of group failure among blacks. I illustrate how David Payne's topoi of therapeutic rhetoric provide a context for understanding not only the arguments these authors make about the nature of failure among blacks, but also the possible solutions these authors pose as avenues for consolation and/or compensation.

The purpose of this project was to articulate a definition and understanding of the emerging genre of rogue cinema through the lens of rhetorical theory. To this end, I lay out a theoretical groundwork based principally on the works of Kenneth Burke and Slavoj Zizek to build a definition and to analyze the works of four filmmakers whose work could be considered rogue: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Dusan Makavejev, Lars von Trier and Werner Herzog. The first chapter is dedicated to articulating the theorists I use and showing how they can be used to examine rogue films. The second chapter is dedicated to the films of Jodorowsky, focusing in particular on his films Fando y Lis, El Topo and The Holy Mountain, looking at how these films form a critique of our conventional views of religion and spirituatity. Chapter three looks at Makavejev's films WR: Mysteries of the Organism and Sweet Movie and discusses how they undermine the capitalist/communist dichotomy that has defined most of 20th century politics. Chapter four examines Lars von Trier's films Europa and Dancer in the Dark, framing them in particular with the Dogme movement and looking at how von Trier rebels against cinematic convention. The last chapter looks at Herzog's films Aguirre: Wrath of God and Stroszek and discusses how Herzog blends fiction and reality in ways that question our cultural and moral values. Since little has been written on rogue cinema to date my aim here has been to help develop rogue cinema as a concept and begin the work of building a theoretical basis for the idea of this as a genre. In my conclusion I suggest avenues for future scholars to expand on this idea and discuss what further work needs to be done for rogue cinema to become an accepted idea.

The works of Mary Wollstonecraft have been largely utilized in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries within the domain of feminist studies. They were influential throughout the 'feminist movement' of the 1960s and 1970s and Wollstonecraft is routinely given the title of 'mother' of feminism. One result of her works being classified as important feminist texts is the elision of the religious element in her works. Moreover, recent scholarship has drawn attention to the central importance of religion in eighteenth century British discourse. This thesis will primarily argue that Wollstonecraft was heavily influenced by religion, and that her writings were conceived in response to a profoundly theologico-political culture. This influence of religion has generally been overlooked by researchers and this thesis will aim to redress this absence. Four of Wollstonecraft's works - all produced within a 'similar' political climate and within a concise time period - are utilized to show that religion was a foundational element within Wollstonecraft's thought and arguments. This thesis shows that Wollstonecraft was not so much a 'feminist' thinker, but a unique intellectual determined to show that the inferior position of women went against 'God's will', teachings and the equality He had ascribed to both men and women during Creation.

On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak entered into a partnership agreement to found Apple Computer. In the decade that followed, Apple experienced remarkable growth and success, as Jobs catapulted Apple to the Fortune 500 list of top‐flight companies faster than any other company in history. Under direction of Jobs, Apple, an idea that started in a garage, transformed into a major force in the computer industry of the 1980s. Though Jobs' leadership undoubtedly influenced Apple’s success during this time, in 1995, he was forced to resign, when conflicts mounted at the executive level. Using Kenneth Burke’s theory of identification and the dramatistic process, this thesis examines Jobs’ discourse through a series of interviews and textual artifacts. First, I provide a framework for Jobs' acceptance and rejection of the social order at Apple, and then consider the ways in which Jobs identified with employee and consumer audiences on the basis of division. Analysis shows that Jobs identified with individual empowerment, but valued separation and exclusivity. Jobs' preference to create identification through division, therefore, established the foundation for new identifications to emerge. The findings of this study suggest that division has significant implications for creating unity. / Graduation date: 2012

Studien undersöker det sublima i Stanley Kubricks rymdepos från 1968. Främst behandlas den estetiska dimensionen av begreppet men av stort intresse är också huruvida filmmediet rymmer en mediespecifik sublimitet. Fyra tänkare ligger till grund för förståelsen av begreppet så som det formuleras i den teoretiska inledningen av uppsatsen – Longinos, Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant samt Jean-François Lyotard och varje tänkare erbjuder en unik förståelse av begreppet. Detta ger ett mångfacetterat begrepp som kommer att prägla det metodologiska förfarandet. De olika teoretiska uppfattningarna av begreppet låter sig delas in i en dikotomi om implicit respektive explicit sublimitet, och denna uppdelning ligger sedermera till grund för uppsatsens disposition: I det första analyskapitlet behandlas filmens övergripande struktur. Utifrån neoformalismens begrepp om fabel och sujett, proairetisk och hermeneutisk linje belyses filmens episodiska uppbyggnad och kausalitetens betydelse för det sublima, hur det sublima kommer till uttryck i relationen mellan händelser och representationen av dessa händelser. I analysens andra del fokuseras den explicita sublimiteten och det sublima som rumslig tilldragelse. I analysens tredje del behandlas det sublima som frambragt genom implicita medel, den utomrumsliga sublimiteten och de temporala implikationer som följer av denna. Ur filmvetenskaplig kanon beaktas i uppsatsen dessutom Gilles Deleuze och Jean Epsteins filmiska filosofier varpå det blir tydligt att dessa rymmer sublima implikationer. Rörelsebilden och tidsbilden borgar för olika slags sublimiteter och nytt ljus faller över fotogeniet då det problematiseras utifrån Kants tankar om smakomdömet.

Historians of the founding years of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) acknowledge General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s role as the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), yet they ignore the effect Eisenhower’s rhetoric had in the creation of a sense of unity among Western European nations. Rhetorical analysis of Eisenhower’s time as SACEUR offers scholars a unique look into the founding years of NATO and the beginning of European unification. Using Kenneth Burke’s theory of the four master tropes, I analyze how Eisenhower’s role in the development of NATO was important to the eventual development of a unified Europe.

This thesis presents an analysis of Edmund Burke's place in intellectual history by examining his commentary on the French Revolution as well as his role in the Enlightenment itself. In doing so, it brings to bear the previously unexplored ideas of the twentieth-century historian Roy Porter. The thesis proposes that Burke's indictment of French philosophy as the cause of the French Revolution created enduring historiographic connotations between radicalism and the notion of enlightenment. Consequently, British thinkers of the eighteenth-century were invariably dismissed as conservative or reactionary and therefore unworthy to be regarded as enlightened figures. Porter's reconsideration of the British Enlightenment reveals Burke to be a staunch defender of hard-won enlightened values which British society had already long enjoyed.<p>The source material is, for the most part, primary. For Edmund Burke, his correspondence and his Reflections on the Revolution in France. For Roy Porter, his most relevant essays, journal articles and monographs.

Uppsatsen ger en retorisk analys av tidningsdebatten Ranelidfejden 2003. Fejden startade med skribenten Linda Skugges recension i Expressen av Björn Ranelids bok Kvinnan är det första könet. Inom kort publicerades artiklar i Dagens Nyheter och Svenska Dagbladet som ifrågasatte Skugges kompetens som kritiker. Uppsatsen undersöker dessa artiklar och hur de argumenterar för att upprätthålla respektive bryta mot de normer som finns kring traditionell litteraturkritik. Detta görs genom att utgå från Kenneth Burkes dramatistiska analys inklusive ett genusperspektiv. Vad räknas som riktig kritik och vad räknas som en personlig reaktion? Slutsats: Ranelidfejden är ett exempel på det grundläggande mänskliga fenomenet att vilja identifiera sig med vissa människor i en social klass, att samlas kring en specialiserad aktivitet, att skapa en hierarki, samt att identifiera sig gentemot och stöta ut människor som överskrider gränserna för korrekt beteende hos klassen. Uppsatsen visar på de dramatistiska och genusteoretiska begreppens fördelar som verktyg för att analysera makthierarkier i mänskliga grupper och hur dessa reproduceras i språket.

This thesis presents an analysis of Edmund Burke's place in intellectual history by examining his commentary on the French Revolution as well as his role in the Enlightenment itself. In doing so, it brings to bear the previously unexplored ideas of the twentieth-century historian Roy Porter. The thesis proposes that Burke's indictment of French philosophy as the cause of the French Revolution created enduring historiographic connotations between radicalism and the notion of enlightenment. Consequently, British thinkers of the eighteenth-century were invariably dismissed as conservative or reactionary and therefore unworthy to be regarded as enlightened figures. Porter's reconsideration of the British Enlightenment reveals Burke to be a staunch defender of hard-won enlightened values which British society had already long enjoyed.<p>The source material is, for the most part, primary. For Edmund Burke, his correspondence and his Reflections on the Revolution in France. For Roy Porter, his most relevant essays, journal articles and monographs.

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