Our public culture is rapidly shrinking: our nation is replete with residents instead of citizens. Part of the blame for the impoverishment of public life is the retreat and subsequent almost total isolation of intellectuals, those who put their deep training and experience to work in sociopolitical contexts in a public vernacular. The failure of most traditional intellectuals to reach a public audience is a failure of rhetoric; public intellectuals, on the other hand, mark rhetorical success in connecting the worlds of the public and the intellectual to advance change. This dissertation explores the interconnections between public intellectuals, rhetorical style and the public sphere to understand how and why public intellectuals are able to do what they do such that we may be able to encourage this work from others. Most importantly, this intersection may help explain how we can reclaim an active, democratic public sphere in the United States.

Psychobiographical researchers methodically formulate life histories and interpret them by means of psychological theories. The research typically focuses on exemplary and completed lives. The cases that are studied are usually of individuals who are of particular interest to society as a result of excelling in their particular fields, be they to benefit or detriment of society. Temple Grandin was chosen for this study using purposive sampling as she meets the psychobiographical requirement of being an extraordinary individual. As an individual with autism Grandin faced many challenges growing up. Despite a difficult and absent beginning, Grandin developed into a stable and scientifically creative adult who contributes to society. She excels as an animal scientist and designer of humane livestock handling facilities and has an international reputation for her contribution to the livestock industry and animal welfare. The primary aim of this study is to describe and interpret the life of Temple Grandin through Erikson’s (1950/1973) theory of psychosocial development. A mixed method approach (Yin, 2006) was employed for the conduction of this study. The overarching data processing and analysis guidelines for this study were provided by Miles and Huberman (1994, 2002a, 2002b). The conduction of the processing and analysis of data was aided by Alexander’s (1988, 1990) method of asking the data questions as well as an integration of Yin’s (2014) time series analysis with Erikson’s (1950/1973) triple bookkeeping approach. This study contributes to the development of psychobiographical research in South Africa as well as to personality and developmental theory.