This project is a cultural study of bicycles and the politics that inform the everyday practice of cycling. Through a close examination of media, rhetoric, and protest, I focus my attention on groups of people who believe that bicycles are not merely forms of transportation, rather, they are instruments of communication, sources of identity, vehicles for pleasure, and tools for technological, cultural, and political critique. This 'counterculture' is comprised of feminists, socialists, punks, anti-globalization activists, writers, environmentalists, and others who have created and developed a politics of cycling through a dialectic of communication and action. Through this dialectical process, these cyclists have not only created an important body of knowledge that speaks to issues of gender, class, culture, technology, and ideology, they also demonstrate both how these issues are interrelated and how people can actively negotiate and contest their meanings. As such, they reveal the capacity for others to effectively utilize grassroots organization, alternative media production, and non-violent direct action as a means to initiate political mobilization and positive change in an era of corporatization, globalization, and widespread cynicism. More than anything, they remind us that revolution can, and must, begin in our everyday lives.

The dissertation conducts a rhetorical analysis of Japan's foreign worker problem from the early 1980s to 2005. To this end, it provides three episodes in a two-decade case study in media representations of "llegal" foreign workers, specifically the emergence and the dominant framing of the foreign worker problem in the media and one organized resistance to the dominant framing of the problem. Chapter 2 provides an overview of Japan's foreign worker problem to set contexts for rhetorical criticism in subsequent chapters. Specifically, it outlines Japan's immigration policies, offers a historical account of its foreign worker problem, and supplies statistical data to document the recent trends and current status of labor migration in Japan. Chapter 3 explores the gendered nature of Japan's foreign worker problem. A distinctive feature of the migratory pattern in postwar Japan is that those who came to Japan for work initially consisted overwhelmingly of women. Nevertheless, their influx was not cast as a foreign worker problem; instead, it was generally framed as a peculiar issue of Japayuki-san. Importantly, the term Japayuki-san functioned to fixate the stereotyped image of female migrants as young sex workers from poor Asian countries. Chapter 4 demonstrates that the popular media, through a barrage of alarming crime reports interspersed with frightening visual graphics, play a critical role in constructing the public knowledge that "llegal aliens" are posing an unprecedented security threat to Japan. Chapter 5 underscores the importance of collective symbolic struggles by investigating how overstaying foreigners, activists, and academics collaborated during a special residence permission campaign from September 1999 through February 2000. The chapter also suggests that sustained and favorable media attention was crucial in bringing the campaign to success. In conclusion, the dissertation stresses the need for contesting the very language used for framing the foreign worker debate. Under the current discursive frame, foreign workers are inevitably reduced to economic units, which in turn limits the scope of the controversy to assessments of economic benefits and costs from accepting foreign workers. A rhetorical move needs to be made from "foreign worker" discourse to "immigration" discourse so that full-blown discussions about immigration could take place.

This dissertation provides a cultural analysis of the figure of the extraterrestrial in US culture. The sites through which the extraterrestrial appears -- spiritualism, so-called space brother religions, unidentified flying objects, and alien abduction -- are understood as elements of an ongoing displaced utopian imaginary. This mode of utopian thought is characterized by recourse to figures of radical alterity (spirits of the dead, ascended masters, and the gray) as agents of radical social change; by its homologies with contemporaneous political currents; and through its invocation of trance states for counsel from the various others imagined as primary agents of change. Ultimately, the dissertation argues that the extraterrestrial functions as the locus both for the resolution of tensions between the spiritual and the material and for the projection of a perfected subject into a utopian future.

The centralized structure of ownership of the local television industry in the United States today has resulted from a combination of regulatory and market pressures. This dissertation analyzes the ways in which centralizing tendencies in ownership structure have been accompanied by the centralization of operations. As station groups add more stations and seek to operate the stations they already own in an ever more profitable manner, changed industrial practices are vitally important because they have direct effects upon the product of those stations, especially local television news. In analyzing such centralizing tendencies, the project focuses not only on centralization of ownership and operation, but on two further factors as well: changing interpretations of the public interest and the development of technologies for local television stations. Changing interpretations of the public interest provision of regulatory law permitted and encouraged station groups to grow larger, redefining the structure of the local television industry, even in the times of heaviest restriction. In terms of technological development, after a brief period of equipment designed simply to get product on the air, television equipment developers followed a consistent guiding principle of staff reduction and job simplification which aided this momentum towards centralization. The combination of changing ownership structures, shifts in understandings of public interest, and new technologies has resulted in new business models built around invoking economies of scale, including centralcasting and multi-channel operation. These new business models have dramatically altered the program product of local television stations, especially local news. News programming, which initially entered broadcasting in response to the regulatory mandate that broadcasters serve the public in return for free access to the public airwaves, has been transformed into a primary source of local station revenue. This commodified version of news programming is the logical result of practices begun in newspapers and continued in radio broadcasting. The news product of local stations is an area of vital concern in the present day media environment, as the quantity of news on the air increases without a corresponding increase in newsroom resources, jeopardizing the quality and veracity of those news programs.

This dissertation examines the rhetorical dynamics of South African AIDS policy under President Thabo Mbeki. From 1999-2004, Mbeki bucked global consensus surrounding the etiology and treatment of AIDS and prohibited government distribution of anti-retroviral drug treatments. In defense of these policies, the President offered scientific arguments founded on the theories of Western AIDS dissenters. He also made the case that South Africas unique experiences under apartheid demanded a strong tolerance of dissent and debate. The international condemnation of these views was striking. Over the course of the controversy, rhetoric played a central role in shaping the views of both sides. Advocates marshaled public arguments in response to the exigencies of the controversy. Contextual constraints also forced the rhetors to adapt their messages. Each chapter of this dissertation examines a different rhetorical element of the controversy. They include the cultural context of South Africas transition to democracy, the development of AIDS dissent in the Mbeki administration, the early development of AIDS dissent in the West, the technical clash of scientific arguments in Mbekis Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel, and indigenous social movement resistance to the governments policies.

The recent proliferation of special effects in Hollywood film has ushered in an era of digital transformation. Among scholars, digital technology is hailed as a revolutionary moment in the history of communication and representation. Nevertheless, media scholars and cultural historians have difficulty finding a language adequate to theorizing digital artifacts because they are not just texts to be deciphered. Rather, digital media artifacts also invite critiques about the status of reality because they resurrect ancient problems of embodiment and transcendence. In contrast to scholarly approaches to digital technology, computer engineers, interface designers, and special effects producers have invented a robust set of terms and phrases to describe the practice of digital animation. In order to address this disconnect between producers of new media and scholars of new media, I argue that the process of digital animation borrows extensively from a set of preexisting terms describing materiality that were prominent for centuries prior to the scientific revolution. Specifically, digital animators and interface designers make use of the ancient science, art, and technological craft of alchemy. Both alchemy and digital animation share several fundamental elements: both boast the power of being able to transform one material, substance, or thing into a different material, substance, or thing. Both seek to transcend the body and materiality but in the process, find that this elusive goal (realism and gold) is forever receding onto the horizon. The introduction begins with a literature review of the field of digital media studies. It identifies a gap in the field concerning disparate arguments about new media technology. On the one hand, scholars argue that new technologies like cyberspace and digital technology enable radical new forms of engagement with media on individual, social, and economic levels. At the same time that media scholars assert that our current epoch is marked by a historical rupture, many other researchers claim that new media are increasingly characterized by ancient metaphysical problems like embodiment and transcendence. In subsequent chapters I investigate this disparity.

This dissertation is a rhetorical biography of Ferdinand Canning Scott Schiller (1864-1937), the foremost British proponent of pragmatism at the turn of the previous century. Beyond reconstructing the development and receptions of Schillers thoughts, this dissertation brings the resources of rhetorical criticism to bear and focuses, in particular, on his style and its significance both in his own lifetime and afterward. While spending most of his career in England, Schiller came in his time to be one of the most widely discussed figures in what is often considered a distinctly American philosophical movement. This rhetorical biography analyzes, in chronological order, the most substantial and often contested arguments that Schiller engaged in so as to promote, first, Jamesian pragmatism and, secondly, his own pragmatic humanism. These arguments were meant to defend the principles of pragmatism and pragmatic humanism against the dominant strains of Idealism then current in both British and American philosophy. But they were also supported by reference to a wide range of topics: psychical research, formal logic, science, religion, and eugenics. This dissertation examines how Schillers arguments exemplify the positive and negative aspects of the rhetorical category of style. More specifically, this rhetorical biography posits that Schillers use of the stylistic figure repetitionthe reiteration of key claims so as to emphasize their importance and to engage the pathos of the audiencehelps to explain why Schiller is now a largely forgotten instigator of pragmatism, conceived herein as both a philosophical concept and a historical movement. This dissertation also demonstrates how traditional methods of rhetorical criticism, often focusing on the set text or oration, can be profitably extended by way of archival materials, public documents, and a focus on the range of arguments offered over the expanse of a subjects career.

THE BATTLE OF DEER CREEK CROSSING: A Case Study of Rhetorical Exigence and Environmental Rhetoric Michael John Bannon, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2006 This dissertation is a case study that analyzes rhetorical tactics and strategies surrounding the environmental public argument over the fate of Deer Creek Crossing, a proposed commercial development in Western Pennsylvanias Allegheny River valley within three miles of the birthplace of pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson. Drawing predominantly from primary sources, it contributes to our understanding of how lengthy rhetorical processes evolve and what influences them. The study shows that the analysis of context as manifested in the rhetorical situation and analyzed through a rhetorical history framework can clarify both singular events and prolonged argumentative processes by uncovering aspects of those events and processes which may be less apparent in a more narrowly focused study of individual rhetorical artifacts. The opening chapter provides necessary background and lays out the theoretical foundation supporting the analysis of the Deer Creek Crossing controversy. Chapter two analyzes the use and misuse of public forums, including the press, in governmental decision-making associated with the Deer Creek Crossing case. Chapter three investigates the adaptation of arguments and changes in tone in response to exigencies and constraints arising from the denial of the first permit application. Chapter four reconstructs the rhetorical decision-making process that led to the deployment of Rachel Carsons name, analyzes the argumentation arising in opposition, and examines the fight for scientific authority. Chapter five evaluates the decision-making processes of regulatory agencies charged with approving environmental permits, as well as the intricate and highly structured legal processes that dominated courtrooms, in which the last and most decisive actions were undertaken. Chapter six explores the implications of the Deer Creek Crossing case for environmental rhetoric and for the effect of particular strategies and tactics on environmental public argument from the perspective of environmental activists, of developers, and for rhetorical scholarship.

During the 1990s, a number of developing countries became interested in upgrading the technology of their national media industries to acquire Internet, satellite broadcast, and cellular phone capacities, because digital technologies like these offered opportunities for sustainable development. Each of these countries had a divergent understanding of what constituted national or, increasingly, regional interests. Yet, Western policymakers and global financing institutions aggressively promoted standardized neoliberal policies, including privatization and deregulation of national media industries--the subsequent opening of these industries to free market forces. Although little empirical evidence existed to support the benefits of this policy framework, development aid from these Western institutions was often contingent upon the adoption of it. The justification was simply that the application of neoliberal policies to national media industries was understood to be superior to any others. Scholarship in political economy of communication made strides in criticizing the dominance of Western policy frameworks and the effects of neoliberalism on national media industries in the developing world. Within a political economy model, the imperative of the present project is to consider the bi-lateral relationship between the developed and the developing world as one that can also be located within a more regionalized and heterogeneous structure. In the last decade, regional economic alliances have become recognized as a feasible method for developing countries to enter into the global political economy. These alliances are often flexible networks among a dozen or more countries, and the reasons so many join are as varied as their membership. The most common reasons are because they foster: cost-sharing of communication technology acquisition, technology transfer and training programs among nations, financing through regional development banks, as well as policy frameworks that are not as heavily determined by neoliberal macroeconomic prescriptions. Most importantly, they provide a place wherein developing countries can maintain their own national identities, but still benefit from a collective force in the global market place. Central to this analysis are Vietnam and its membership in the Association of Southeast Nations, and South Africa in the South African Development Community, both of which in their own way signify the viability of this alternative model.

The concept of EU citizenship holds promise as a revolutionary model of citizenship where residency and political participation substitute for national identity as membership criteria. However, EU citizenship's revolutionary potential is limited by the fact that today, citizenship remains tied to traditional definitions codified by EU member states, excluding millions of permanent residents who are living in Europe as long-term Third Country Nationals (TCNs). A host of individuals, nongovernmental organizations and institutions have pressed for expansion of EU citizenship to include TCNs. Following Vico's theories of imagination and ingenium and Olson and Goodnight's approach to rhetorical criticism of oppositional arguments, this dissertation analyzes the controversy over TCNs and EU citizenship, highlighting the implications of the controversy for the EU, its institutions, its citizens, and particularly its non-citizens.