Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4318. Advisers: Martin Camargo; Gail Hawisher. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-151) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

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Political discourse in contemporary Germany provides a window into issues of racism, nationality, and the overall question of German identity. The use of metaphor and racist semantic techniques in political speeches and articles addressing issues of increased neo-Nazi activity and changes in immigration policy point to an increasing struggle over the establishment of a common discursive framework within which such questions are discussed. Such a struggle itself points to a deeper crisis of the state and German identity. This paper offers an approach to understanding these struggles by first examining metaphorical conceptions of the nation and state that not only reflect and describe, but actually shape German experience of these phenomena, further impacting conceptions of race and national identity. The active role of racism in creating a common discursive framework and as it informs the process/state project of hegemony is examined. Questions concerning whether the racism detected is "new" and the consequences of establishing a racialized discourse will contribute, finally, to an exploration of possibilities for creating an anti-racist discourse in Germany.

Military oriented publications Army Times and Veterans of Foreign Wars publish stories praising wounded warriors returning to duty. This praise complicates the conception of masculinity and ability among service-members. One reading of Judith Butler’s chapter “Bodies that Matter” aids understanding how the military forms bodies of service-members and how these bodies overcome injury. Simi Linton criticizes this rhetoric of overcoming as oppressive, and Garry B. Trudeau’s illustrated narrative The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time offers a positive alternative to reenlisting. This alternative resists this militaristic rhetoric, which will lead to detrimental consequences. The military forms civilians into service-members, andButler’s reading of Plato’s masculine autogenesis applies to the formation of service-members. Military and civilian audiences accept this reproduction of service-members, andButler’s resistance to Plato serves individuals and society. Linton’s critique of the rhetoric of overcoming also serves individuals and society. This rhetoric causes distress among individuals with disabilities, and if the military and society embrace this rhetoric, individuals with and without disabilities will suffer. Fortunately, Trudeau diverts this rhetoric of overcoming. His narrative reminds audiences a return to civilian life does not end one’s masculinity. Rehabilitation and recovery require dedication and focus, two virtues gained through military training and service. As members of society, we need to recognize the detrimental affects of this rhetoric of return. If we accept this conception of masculinity, it will influence our understanding of masculinity and ability, which will then permeate throughout society.

This dissertation addresses Habermas' search for a communicative foundation for universal rationality as a basis for validating assertions, in the light of the postmodern criticism that all universalizing principles represent the authority, or dominance, of individuals or cultures. By abandoning the idea of validity altogether, postmodern scholars would reduce social organization to power struggles. Modernist criticize this position as a return to relativism. Working at the intersection between these two positions, Habermas maintains the modern distinction between authority and validity, but suggests that the distinction remains blurred by prejudice and self-interest inherent in everyday discourse. To confront prejudice and self-interest, and re-establish a universal standard for validity, Habermas identifies the universal presuppositions for communication and describes them as the conditions for ideal speech. These ideal speech conditions would neutralize prejudice and self-interest, while establishing a universal standard for validity based on consensus--agreement based solely on the force of the strongest argument My thesis is that the ideal speech situation must actually rely on an ethic of discourse in order to create and maintain something like the ideal conditions that Habermas identifies. The ideal speech situation is often called an ethic because it describes how we ought to act during discourse; we ought to act so as to affirm the basic presuppositions inherent in all speech acts. I argue that guidelines for ideal speech do not, by themselves, eliminate prejudice or establish conditions for consensus formation. Habermas seems to accept the inadequacy of these guidelines and relies upon a supplementary disposition that must be adopted by the speakers. This disposition achieves ideal conditions by tacitly requiring speakers to use language literally, but the literal language requirement has no universal foundation in the universal presuppositions of communication. Without this universal foundation, Habermas' discourse theory no longer establishes universal ground for validity, or truth / acase@tulane.edu

<p>This qualitative, narratively orientated study explores the perceptions of undergraduate students? interpretations of their experiences as they voluntarily attempt to start and maintain writing center-facilitated writing groups. During the spring 2014 semester, undergraduate writing tutors at a small, private, women?s, liberal arts university attempted to start four writing groups through the institution?s writing center. Only two of the four proposed writing groups formed, and of those two, only one writing group maintained consistent membership and met regularly throughout the semester. Data for this study were collected from February 2014 to May 2014 and consists of 11 interviews, with four individuals, three of whom were the undergraduate writing tutors who founded the writing groups. Noting the impossibility of generalizing a small, contextualized study like this, the author suggests it may be useful to writing directors to consider writing groups as a viable writing center program for undergraduate students, particularly if viewed as a vehicle for tutor training and leadership development. Other issues for writing center directors, writing center administrators, and teachers of writing at the college level who are interested in how writing groups function to support writers are discussed as well. Moreover, this dissertation examines the author?s own experiences wrestling with a research study that became vastly different from what she intended because of participation constraints. The author?s attempts at self-reflexivity regarding her subjectivities, epistemological contradictions, and other issues raised by her interpretation of her research experience are included as data and discussed in the final chapter of this dissertation.

The persuasive speeches of the Zhanguo ce, "The Intrigues of the Warring States," are considered by many to have been written for the purpose of training Warring States political advisers in the rhetorical style of the Zongheng rhetorical school. In contrast to earlier Chinese persuasive styles, the persuasions of the Zhanguo ce were apparently crafted to incorporate manipulative techniques in order to improve the effectiveness of the presentations. This thesis analyzes persuasive speeches from Zhanguo ce in order to identify the types of rhetorical devices used by Warring States rhetors. It also evaluates another reputed Warring States text, the Guiguzi, that openly advocates the use of psychological manipulation in persuasions. Lacking evidence that the received Guiguzi is a valid Warring States text, this thesis compares the Guiguzi teachings and Zhanguo ce persuasions to identify similarities that may indicate general Warring States attitudes toward using psychological manipulation in political persuasions.

It is the aim and purpose of this thesis to show that electricity in the modern theatre is a useful and necessary commodity. Also that the effects gained through the development of electrical equipment add to the effectiveness of plays as produced by the modern theatre. It is desired to show that electrical current will continue to be used in the stage lighting of the future although the present method used may become obsolete.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the speeches of three representative modern women orators and in analyzing the speeches of these women to draw certain conclusions regarding women's oratory. I have chosen the speeches of Judge Florence E. Allen, Ruth Bryan Owen, and Mabel Walker Willebrandt. These women are well known for their ability as successful public speakers and they are listed as "good speakers" in the Who's Who of Women Orators in America.

This study examines the logic of extreme contemporary North American environmental rhetoric from the perspective of a normative pragmatic approach to argumentation. As such, explicit normative standards for reasonable deliberative discourse serve as the epistemic grounds for a critical evaluation of a type of argumentation that is frequently relied upon by key members of extremely competitive interest groups during actual contemporary environmental policy disputes. The analysis reveals that the inferential framework and interpretive assumptions inherent in radical environmental arguments are embedded in specifiable tapestries of symbolic communication that are without grounds in absolute truth. Nonetheless, these predominantly narrative tapestries address what many people believe to be their proper role and place in the universe and are frequently implicated in chains of social and cognitive consequences that have significant bearing on American environmental policy deliberation and decision making processes. In this respect, it is argued that radical environmental argumentation is not fundamentally different than mainstream environmental argumentation. It is also argued that radical environmental arguments are as deserving of policy makers' time and consideration as any environmental argument, especially during environmental policy deliberation and decision making processes.