<p> In this dissertation, I seek to define strategies designers might use to enhance the effectiveness of their game&rsquo;s message. To do so, I adopt a rhetorical approach to impact that recognizes identification between the designer&rsquo;s view of the world and that of the player as critical to achieving impact. Based on a review of relevant literature drawn from the fields of rhetoric, interactive narrative, and game studies; interviews with prominent game designers Tracy Fullerton and Jesse Schell; case studies of <i> Undertale, That Dragon, Cancer</i>, and <i>Papo &amp; Yo</i>; and a design project creating a game to increase empathy for people with ADHD, I endeavor to present a framework for impact design that delineates major concerns relevant to the act of identification. This framework recognizes abstraction based on clearly presenting the designer&rsquo;s message and agency based on encouraging the player to engage with that message as the cornerstones of promoting impact through identification. From their intersection, I extrapolate three related design concerns: authenticity, affectivity, and ambiguity. Authenticity captures the degree to which the game rings true to both the developer&rsquo;s own beliefs as well as those of the player; affectivity describes the player&rsquo;s emotional connection to the game; and ambiguity invites players to seek their own meaning by completing the game through their act of play. Throughout my work, I expand upon these three concerns to identify how they can serve as useful heuristics for impact design, suggesting concrete strategies at the level of a game&rsquo;s mechanics, aesthetics, and narrative. I believe in the potential of games to improve people&rsquo;s lives and make the world a better place, and I see my research as contributing to that greater effort. </p><p>

Scholars have long debated the nature of Paul’s opponents in the book of Colossians. This thesis approaches the debate from a methodological standpoint and contends that Paul was not actually confronting active opponents when he wrote the letter. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that the challenge of reconstructing a singular opponent arises not only from the limitations of textual and historical evidence but also from the assumptions and methodologies inherent to historical approaches to the text. By modifying these assumptions and adjusting the methodology, Paul’s letter takes on a new relationship to its historical context. Paul writes the letter to the churches in the Lycus Valley in a desire to develop their identity as a new people in Christ and to appeal to them to live a new kind of life in Christ. His warnings in Col 2 function as oppositional rhetoric contrasting the religious practices of the Lycus Valley with this new life in Christ. Paul’s warnings are therefore broadly representative of the ancient world yet focused especially on two threads of historical referents, Judaism and pagan religions. This thesis engages in epistolary, rhetorical, and historical analysis to demonstrate how Paul uses the historical practices of these two referents to create a broad contrast between the body of Christ and the religious world of the Lycus Valley.

abstract: This paper argues that the use of masculine rhetoric in the expansion of the United States derived from a larger ideological system that glorified masculinity through imperialism. The United States relied on the frontier myth, a belief that asserted that the nation was formed through the struggle of settling the frontier. The American man possessed the strength to conquer the wilderness and the people who already inhabited it. This version of masculinity combined not only elements of nationalism but also of race. As the United States continued to expand its borders through imperialism, the masculine identity associated with the frontier myth persisted in the psyche of the American male. The conquering man became the ideal of the American man, and rhetoric regarding the national need for this figure in the continual expansion of America justified wars of imperialism. In order to observe recurring patterns of masculine rhetoric, this thesis adopts a comparative approach to American imperialism by analyzing two wars separated by time and political climate; the U.S.-Mexican War and the Spanish-American War. Systems of ideology are always embodied by people; consequently this thesis applies a biographical approach to the key political figures who influenced the United States’ route to war. These men serve as examples of the internalization and intersectionality of masculine rhetoric as well as the outward expression of those systems in the form of imperialism. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis History 2017

abstract: The current research examines the influence of disciplines, advisors, committees, language, culture, and previous experiences in students' search and selection of dissertation topics, as well as whether and how students react to those influences during this process. Invention has been an area of research for rhetoricians for centuries, but most modern research focuses exclusively on the pre-writing process in first composition classrooms (Young, 1976). The current research collected survey and interview data from second- and third-year Ph.D. students in natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities at a large research university in the United States. 80 second- and third-year Ph.D. students completed an online survey; 11 students and four of their advisors participated in a semi-structured interview. The results demonstrate that the majority of students spent over three months in the selection of dissertation topics, and the humanities students tended to spend longer time in this process than social sciences or humanities students. Additionally, students have much in common in their perception of the criteria they would use in the selection of dissertation topics, and those criteria are similar to what previous researchers (Isaac, Koenigsknecht, Malaney, & Karras, 1989; Kozma, 1997; Sessions, 1971) have identified. However, when it comes to the actual selection experiences, the interviews show that students do not necessarily apply those criteria rationally. Moreover, disciplines appear to have an overarching effect on students' topic selection. Natural sciences advisors appeared to have more direct involvement in students' topic choice than advisors in social sciences or humanities. The linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the eleven doctoral participants were not found influential in their selection of dissertation topics. Finally, although Ph.D. advisors generally have a good understanding of students' academic progress, their knowledge of the students' personal and professional concerns may differ, and the latter knowledge is crucial in their advising on students' dissertation topic choice. The current study suggests invention in the scholar and researcher level is significantly different from that of first-year composition classrooms. The successful invention of dissertation topics is indispensable of the influence of disciplines, programs as well as the intellectual and practical support students can receive. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Applied Linguistics 2013

<p> This study aims to examine the rhetoric used by evangelical leaders to promote their organizations and to gain the support of Millennials. Multiple YouTube videos depicting different forms of public appeals are analyzed for four evangelical leaders: Ravi Zacharias, Timothy Keller, Jeremy Courtney, and Shane Claiborne. Cluster analysis is the primary methodology for examination of the rhetoric of both the individual speaker and the organization each represents. Additionally, ideographs of these leaders are pinpointed in the course of the analysis and compared to concepts related to social justice, a value commonly associated with Millennials. The implications of types of appeals, language choices, and common ideographs for evangelical, Christian identities are discussed and examined along a historical continuum. This analysis finds the four individuals in the study primarily utilize emotional appeals and Burke&rsquo;s identification to gain support from both the individual and the collective as they expand the potentiality for what qualifies as American evangelicalism. Whereas Zacharias and Courtney aim their appeals primarily at Millennial individuals seeking to fulfill existential needs, Keller and Claiborne address Millennials as a group seeking to re-imagine (or rediscover) evangelicalism as inclusive and theologically sophisticated. Finally, this research concludes with an assessment of new evangelicalism, the limitations of this study, and suggestions for future research.</p><p>

<p> This study traces a persistent connection between the image of disease and the concept of difference in Plato&rsquo;s <i>Gorgias, Phaedo</i>, and <i>Timaeus</i>. Whether the disease occurs in the body, soul, city, or cosmos, it always signals an unassimilated difference that is critical to the argument. I argue that Plato represents&mdash;and induces&mdash;diseases of difference in order to produce philosophers, skilled in the art of differentiation. Because his dialogues intensify rather than cure difference, his philosophy is better characterized as a &ldquo;higher pathology&rdquo; than a form of therapy. </p><p> An introductory section on <i>Sophist</i> lays out the main features of the concept of difference-in-itself and concisely presents its connection to disease. The main chapters examine the relationship in different realms. In the first chapter, the problem is moral and political: in the <i> Gorgias</i>, rhetoric is a corrupting force, while philosophy purifies the city and soul by drawing distinctions. In the second chapter on <i> Phaedo</i>, the problem is epistemological: if we correctly interpret the illness of misology, as the despair caused by the inability to consistently distinguish truth and falsity, we can resolve the mystery of Socrates&rsquo; cryptic last words (&ldquo;We owe a cock to Asclepius; pay the debt and do not neglect it&rdquo;). In the third chapter on <i>Timaeus</i>, Plato treats diseases of the soul, the body, and the cosmos itself. There, the correlation between disease and difference actually helps humans situate themselves in the vast universe&mdash;for in both cases, proper differentiation is the key to a healthy, well-constructed life. </p><p> My emphasis on Plato&rsquo;s theory of difference counters the traditional focus on his theory of Forms. Elucidating the link between the concept of difference and the experience of disease has broader impact for the ageless question of how we should live our lives. In Plato&rsquo;s system, neither disease nor difference is a wholly negative element to be eradicated. Instead, difference and disease, in their proper proportions, are responsible for the fullness of the world and the emergence of the philosophical subject.</p><p>

<p> Authors often explore the details of identity and body politics through their writing. Czech author Milan Kundera&rsquo;s novel <i>The Unbearable Lightness of Being</i> deals heavily with the marginalized and oppressed body, considering how such bodies function, how they perceive themselves, how they are perceived by others, and how such bodies are, by nature, a defiance of an established hegemony. The novel considers the exiled body and how such exile can deliver freedom, cause further marginalization, or craft an ambivalent mixture of the two. The oppressed and marginalized body, as understood through literature, acts not just as a mirror of society but also as an avenue for navigating a subject as dense as identity and body politics.</p><p>

<p> In this dissertation, I conceptualize a rhetorical and linguistic analysis of politics from a decolonial framework (Mignolo, 2011; Smith, 2012). My analysis draws on classical rhetoric (Aristotle, 2007), cultural rhetoric (Mao, 2014; Powell, et al., 2014; Yankah, 1995), and linguistics (Chilton, 2004) to reveal the different ways ideological and hegemonic struggles are discursively constructed in Nigerian political campaign discourse. The data for this study come from two speeches delivered by former President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015 electoral campaign. This includes his declaration-of-intent speech and his speech marking the commencement of his formal campaign activities. My research demonstrates the richness of conceptualizing political discourse within its immediate and larger contexts and the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary approach&mdash;which I call an integrationist approach&mdash;in unmasking the different forms of hegemonic struggle in discourse. Analysis of linguistic elements such as tenses, indexicals, and cultural metaphors and the rhetorical elements of apologia, apologies, enthymemes, call-and-response, and fictive kinship terms such as &ldquo;my brother and sister&rdquo; reveals that hegemonic discourse in a Nigerian context is neither autonomous, nor flowing from a single dominant power, but constituted by multiple, heteroglossic and complex processes that connect the local and the global. To this end, my analysis focuses on a dual critique of local and colonial forms of hegemonic powers that are now codified in the overall discourse of globalization. This dual orientation is necessary because the social struggles below and above the nation-state are strategic spaces of political intervention that might be ignored when the focus of the analysis privileges just the nation-state. The findings present the merits of combining decolonial epistemologies with the perspectives of linguistics and rhetoric in the analysis of politics. Particularly, such approaches have the potentials to open up ways of knowing that would otherwise be taken for granted or completely marginalized based on our positionality as academics. The awareness of the diversity of cultural ways of knowing and theorizing encourages us to learn not only from dominant Western systems of knowledge, but more inclusively from culturally different, historically marginalized ways of thinking and knowing.</p><p>

<p> Delight is present in several types of experiences, including those involving the use of interactive systems. To a great extent, we notice when certain design features of such systems provoke our delight. Such a feeling is crucial since it influences our perspective towards the system&rsquo;s performance, functionality, or relevance to our everyday lives. In this sense, delight appears as a persuasive dimension of the user experience. Hence it is reasonable to ask if rhetoric can help us study the relationship between delight and a system&rsquo;s design features. In this dissertation, I have taken a set of concepts from rhetoric as lenses to examine the design of interactive artifacts, including static and dynamic interface components and interactions. Specifically, I tested the following rhetorical concepts: the function of an image, enthymeme, mode of appeal, trope and scheme, and metaphorical tension. Through my examinations, I illustrate one way to bring rhetoric into interaction design and show its potential for framing delight in interactive artifacts. As a result, I have formulated the concept of interaction delight and other constructs which together work as a preliminary theory of delight in interactive systems. Finally, I propose an interpretive examination method whose purpose is the articulation of compositional and experiential qualities of interactive systems regarding the functions of rhetoric: to persuade, to identify, to invite to understanding, to help in self-knowledge and self-discovery, and to shape reality. This method is intended to help an interaction design researcher account for how the system argues during the user experience.</p><p>

<p> Within political discourse, tropes of ability and disability are rhetorically applied in a way that stigmatizes particular individuals or groups by associating the targets of such rhetoric with preexisting normative perspectives framing able-bodiedness as valuable, and disability as undesirable. By analyzing Brenda Connors&rsquo; diagnosis of Putin as having Asperger&rsquo;s syndrome, I argue the language used in her Pentagon funded report constitutes a form of dis/ableist polemical rhetoric. Incorporating Michel Foucault&rsquo;s scholarship concerning biopolitics, governmentality, and madness, as well as relevant critical disability studies scholarship, I outline how an instance of polemical discourse can invoke disablist and ablest discourses for polemical rhetoric. Ultimately, I argue that dis/ableist polemical rhetoric outlines the role that categories of ability and disability play in international relations and domestic political discourse, which I suggest has important theoretical implications for political communication, critical disability studies, and Foucault scholarship.</p><p>