Within literacy and composition studies, writing, as a social act, is believed by many to have the potential to effect change in and transform situations of injustice. Community literacy, as an emergent practice within composition studies, embraces and stretches this notion of linking literacy to social change. Community literacy also embraces and stretches the notion of the dynamic relationship between theory and practice. This thesis focuses on the project of possibility that community literacy presents, as it attempts to transform situations of injustice through literate acts and as it attempts to transform the current field of composition studies. In this thesis, I have attempted to look broadly at the way the theories and practices of community literacy and composition studies mutually impact and refine each other so as to provide a richer sense of what is involved in both this particular literacy project and in its emergent place within this academic field. In Chapter 1, I explore the conversation that community literacy has recently entered among current theories and developing practices of literacy and composition. In Chapter 2, I examine how, because it is grounded in certain--sometimes conflicting--theories, advocates of community literacy are acting as negotiators among these diverse theories, pushing at the boundaries of the existing conversation in composition studies to potentially create--or open up the space for--new understandings of composition and the teaching of writing. / Graduation date: 1997

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This study attempts to discover and describe patterns of variation in college students' overt attitudes toward a limited set of grammatical and lexical variables, the shibboleths of edited written American English usage. The basic instrument used in the study is a 115 item multiple choice questionnaire prepared by the researcher. Fifteen questions were designed to assess the respondents' social, economic, and demographic backgrounds, whereas the major part of the questionnaire elicited judgments about one hundred English sentences offering the choice between the attributes "good," "bad," and "I can't decide." This questionnaire was administered to 172 students in nine freshman composition classes during the spring semester of 1994 at Ball State University. The study sought to discover and describe systematic relationships between the answers to the first set of questions (extralinguistic data) and the second set of questions (linguistic data) by using various analytical methods and statistical techniques, such as correlation coefficients, chi-square tests, and multidimensional scaling.It was hypothesized that variation in subjects' overt judgments about linguistic variables would parallel the findings of numerous sociolinguistic studies about variation in linguistic production, and hence would pattern along the social and demographic characteristics of the subjects. However, although this study found considerable variation in the freshman students' judgments about the usage shibboleths, it did not find social or demographic correlates to the respondents' judgments.By investigating the nature of the variation in freshman composition students' notions about linguistic correctness, this study attempted to answer questions which have not been asked by traditional usage studies, sociolinguistics, or composition research. Moreover, this study has added support for linguists' claims that the traditional "mistakes" in usage handbooks have almost no empirical basis, even if they remain the favorites of most handbook authors and English teachers. / Department of English

In twentieth century America, women continue the age-old struggle for recognition as whole, intelligent individuals, not just an "other," less hearty, less deserving or less capable being than man. Sarah Grimke spoke of the inequalities over 150 years ago during the abolitionist movement when she compiled her major arguments into a series of letters originally published individually in the New England Spectator, then as a volume in 1838 entitled Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman. Grimke gets to the core of the matter and dares to challenge long-standing patriarchal tradition and beliefs. Feminists have since tried to categorize her ideas into a particular philosophy, giving her credit as the first American feminist. However, the difficulty lies in labeling her from a twentieth century perspective (feminism) when her intent was to be heard as an individualshe wanted to break the barriers which categorizing creates. The strength of the Letters lies in their rhetorical soundness as an art which speaks profoundly to its audience, transcending the boundaries of time. This study focuses on the rhetorical soundness of the Letters, providing a close analysis, that reveals Sarah Grimke's rhetorical methods, and her reaffirmation of classical notions of rhetoric. The study also contextualizes the letters while answering the critical question: Why should we read the letters now, in the twentieth century when slavery is an issue long since resolved and women have been given the right to vote and have been assured of equal rights under the equal rights amendment? We must read primary texts, not secondary or interpretive texts, to experience the author's rhetoric and recapture her intentions. / Graduation date: 1992

Since 1993, diet and fitness promoter Susan Powter has gained significant prominence with her passionate message of health and wellness. This study used fantasy theme analysis to examine Powter's view of reality and her ability to persuade her audience. The analysis revealed a coherent vision, "Stop the Insanity!," within which Powter and other dieters are viewed as heroes. Additionally, the diet and fitness industries are viewed as conspiring villains who starve dieters and exclude the unfit from exercise programs. Powter differentiates herself from these villains by promoting herself as an uneducated but sincere speaker who does not starve or exclude people. Rather, she can identify with dieters because she has experienced their pain and frustration. Because anything is better than the "starvation" and "exclusion" promoted by the diet and fitness experts, Powter's program cannot help but succeed in the eyes of those who share her vision of reality. / Department of Speech Communication

This study investigated Time's reporters' portrayals of Jesse Jackson throughout his 1988 campaign. Chapter one introduced the study and provided an extensive literature review of. Ernest Bormann's Fantasy Theme Analysis and its uses. Chapter Two presented a biographical profile of Jackson and served as a prelude to the discussion of Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign. Chapter Three included the actual analysis and interpretation of the study. The following themes were discovered in the five 'time periods that emerged from the investigation: the underdog, the free from scrutiny, the preacher, the leader of black people, the poet, and the loser of the nomination themes. Chapter Four summarized this study and provided implications and suggestions for future research. / Department of Speech Communication

The following rhetorical criticism is an investigation of two public service announcements released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Utilizing a composite method derived from Osborn (1994), Brummett (1991) and Burke (1945), this study investigates what it means when to say how others ought to act and why they ought to act that way. This investigation demonstrates how the manipulations of identities, ideologies, and action are the elements used to motivate people to act in affirmation of an identity. Moreover, it demonstrates why the motivated social actions serve as foundations for constructing our social reality. Ultimately, it discovers and clarifies a grammar of edification, how that grammar allows for efficient quotidian management, and, thus, why it serves as a tool for managing everyday meaning in our social world.

This study explores the complex relationship between radical right rhetoric and the genre of apocalyptic rhetoric. The radical right consists of the White Nationalist and Patriot movements, two common "hate group" movements in the United States. The Klanwatch (1998d) explains that the number of hate groups in the United States grew by 20 percent in 1997. They attribute much of this growth to the movement's use of the Internet. Although these hate groups are highly diverse, Christian Identity is a common theology to which many members of the radical right adhere.This study analyzes two artifacts representational of Christian Identity rhetoric. These artifacts were found on the Web site of the Northwest Kinsmen, a radical right group from the Pacific Northwest. Christian Identity is a "pseudo-Christian" theology that claims that white Christians are the true Israelites and that Jews are actually "children of Satan." Christian Identity followers believe that there will be a racial war (i.e., racial apocalypse) in which white Christians will triumph over the forces of evil (Abanes, 1996).This study utilizes the rhetorical method of generic criticism to determine that the Christian Identity rhetoric present on the Northwest Kinsmen's Web site is apocalyptic rhetoric. Generic theory, the theoretical foundation of this study, argues that rhetorical genres have common situational, substantive, and stylistic features and a common "organizing principle" that unifies the genre. Therefore, this study compares the key features of apocalyptic rhetoric to the Northwest Kinsmen artifacts. Through this study, a greater understanding of the social reality, beliefs, attitudes, and values of the radical right, Christian Identity rhetors is obtained.This study discovers that the Christian Identity rhetoric found on the Northwest Kinsmen's Web site is apocalyptic rhetoric. This study illustrates that these Christian Identity rhetors believe that they are living in a chaotic world of inexplicable problems. Through apocalyptic rhetoric, the rhetors help explain the "crises" facing the audience and therefore restore order in their lives. Specifically, this study shows how these apocalyptic rhetors utilize conspiracy theories to restore order. Additionally, it illustrates how the rhetorical strategies associated with apocalyptic rhetoric (i.e., typology, transfer, and style and language) are used to enhance the credibility of the rhetor and the legitimacy of even the most racist assertions. Finally, this study provides insight into the use of the Internet by radical right groups. / Department of Speech Communication

The basic aim of this study is to investigate the nature of the narrative, concerning itself with the structures inherent in a system of signs which reveals the communicative function of literature. The general aim is to interpret the meaning of the narrative against the cultural background. The study makes a synthesis of formalist and structuralist points of view on the relations between story and discourse. A comparison of the oral and written narratives reveals that the discourse of the latter displays more artistry than that of the former. An examjnation of the problems of theme selection and development in the Northern Sotho prose narrative, from the point of view of African literature, is made. This reveals that the South African censorship laws have caused the emergence of sophisticated writers with a highly developed artistic way of portraying the South African situation sensitively by making it speak for itself. The study also examines some aspects of character in the narrative, analyzing the actions of characters in the story rather than psychological essences about them, and showing how these characters help the reader to understand the narrator's moral vision of the world. A comparison of the narrative techniques in the oral and the written narrative shows that in the former, the narrator is limited by tradition to the actions and the events that can be seen or heard, while the narrator in the latter can even describe what his characters are thinking or feeling. The study finally examines the relationship between symbolism and culture in the Northern Sotho narrative to reveal the general African philosophy in which -life is perceived as a perpetual journey undertaken by the hero from the natural to the non-natural world, whence he returns to the original world after experiencing moral lassitude and frustration. In the conclusion it is observed that both the oral and the written narratives deal with the intricacies of life as series of patterns and developments. The functional nature of the traditional African aesthetics reflected in the narratives prescribes the study of their meaning against the African cultural background. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)