In the United States, rural culture is frequently thought of as traditional and “authentically” American. This belief stems from settler colonial histories in which Native lands are stolen and “settled” by white colonial communities. Through this process, the rugged “frontier” becomes a symbol of American identity, and rural communities become the home of “real” Americans. Because settler colonization is invested in maintaining systems of white supremacy, sexism, and heteropatriarchy, these “real” Americans are figured as normatively white and straight. This dissertation analyzes the rhetorical construction of rurality in the United States, specifically focusing on the ways in which settler colonial histories shape national discussions of rural sexuality. I theorize a rhetorical practice I call rural drag, a process by which individuals in settler society can assert membership in white heteropatriarchy by performing “rurality.” I trace the development of this rhetorical practice through three case studies. In the first, I analyze 19th-century Texan legislative writings during the creation of Texas A&M University. These writings and related correspondences reveal a baseline of white supremacist and settler colonial rhetorics upon which the university established its ethos. In the second, I look at how these rhetorics continue to inform performances of sexuality and gender at Texas A&M. These performances derive from earlier rhetorical practices designed to create a space for white settler privilege. Together, these two case studies suggest that rhetorical practices shape and are shaped by the spaces in which they are practiced and the rhetorical histories of these spaces. In my final case study, I interrogate national discourses of rurality through an analysis of country western music to show how rhetorics of rurality are simultaneously local and national. I conclude by challenging scholars of rhetoric and queer studies to recognize that the relationship between rhetoric and place is key to recognizing our relationship to privilege and oppression in the United States. To further this, I propose a decolonial queerscape pedagogy that accounts for the multiple overlays of sexual identities and practices that travel through the academy while challenging the colonial histories and actions upon which the academy is built.

Notre thèse prend le parti d’analyser l’automobilisme dans l’Occident rural durant le XXe siècle. Elle s’appuie sur une étude croisant le département du Rhône en France et la région de Québec au Canada. La documentation est constituée, outre une abondante bibliographie bilingue, de sources gouvernementales issues de fonds d’archives départementaux pour le département Rhône, et, pour la région de Québec, de sources nationales. Celles-ci sont complétées par des périodiques, des revues spécialisées, des sources statistiques et de l’iconographie. La démonstration tente d'éclairer les enjeux, présents dans l'historiographie mais jusqu'ici implicites, de l’adoption de la vitesse automobile et de ses conséquences dans l’espace rural. En croisant les territoires, il s’agit de mettre en évidence comment un objet industriel produit en ville – l’automobile et ses déclinaisons – modifie le paysage rural et l’exploitation agricole, les mentalités et les pratiques de mobilité.Ce travail montre que les mutations imposées par l’automobilisme sont, quoique moins visibles parfois, bien plus nombreuses et complexes au sein du monde rural qu'elles peuvent l'être dans l’espace urbain. Il présente également la rapidité avec laquelle les populations rurales ont adopté ce mode de transport : la question de l’antiautomobilisme rural est largement repensée et une attention est portée aux impacts socioculturels de la mécanisation agricole. Enfin, les développements étayent la représentation admise que la vitesse automobile s’inscrit dans un système logique et cohérent qui révolutionne à la fois les modes de déplacement, l’appréhension du territoire, les pratiques sociétales et, enfin, les mentalités. / Our thesis analyzes automobilism in the rural West during the twentieth century. It is based on a study crossing the Rhône region in France and Quebec area in Canada. Our documentation relies on archives for the Rhône region and national sources for Quebec area. These are supplemented by periodicals, reviews, statistical sources and iconography. Our demonstration wishes to answer to the question of the adoption of speed and its consequences in rural areas. By crossing territories, it highlights how an object produced by industrial city – the automobile and its variations – changes the rural andagricultural landscape, attitudes and practices of mobility. This work show that mutations about automobilism are much more numerous and complex in the rural than in urban areas. It also highlights the relative speed with which rural people have adopted this mode of transport: rural anti-automobilism is reevaluated and sociocultural impacts of mechanization are underlined. Finally, it posits the idea that the car speed is part of a logical and coherent system that is revolutionizing the mode of travel, but also and especially the space occupied and attitudes.

Since the 19th century, industrialization has led people from the countryside to the bigger cities, and Sweden is not an exception. Statistics from 2018 show that for the first time in 30 years, there is an increase in the people whom make the decision to move from the cities to the countryside. And from 2015 to 2018 there has been an increase of 11 000 people in the Swedish countryside. With this in mind, our study is going to explore the central driving forces in returnees; people returning home to the smaller towns in the Swedish countryside. We are also going to analyze how these people relate to the urban norm, with the intention of trying to explain how they identify with their role as returnee, as well as their ex-role they had before making the move home. To answer these two central questions, we have performed ten interviews throughout Sweden in smaller towns considered to be in the Swedish countryside. To analyze our empirical data four central concepts that constitute our theoretical framework have been presented. These concepts are turning points, role exit, social capital and the urban norm. Turning points and role exit is a part of Ebaugh’s theory about the role exit-process. Social capital is a broad theory, in which we have decided to apply the work of Robert D. Putnam and his focus on reciprocity and reliability in social networks. Finally, the urban norm is a theory that mainly explores the normative and hierarchical relation between the cities and the countryside, where the cities are always the norm. Our conclusion is that closeness to family and a sense of security is the most frequent driving force for returnees. There is also a duality in the way interviewees approach their roles as returnees and ex-city inhabitants, where they often keep relating to their past roles and have difficulties relating to their current role in their hometown.