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Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

English

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Cushman, Jeremy

Second Advisor

Heim, Stefania

Third Advisor

Qualley, Donna J., 1952-

Abstract

Rhetorical vulnerability is a necessary, underlying condition for rhetoric. That is, in order for rhetoric to be meaningful or even possible, we must already be vulnerable to each other. This paper frames vulnerability as a rhetorical concept different from vulnerability as a way of being, a personality trait, and a modifier of actions and behaviors. I examine how vulnerability has shown up in rhetorical scholarship as approaches to rhetoric, in relation to desire, and as embodied and affective. I close by proposing a practice of embracing vulnerability which creates capacities to differently engage identification categories and to understand spaces not as fixed containers, but as open, moldable, and relational.

Type

Text

Keywords

Vulnerability, Rhetoric, Rhetorical, Rhetorical Theory, Rhetorical Vulnerability, Engagement, Relationality, Sexuality, Identity, Pedagogy

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1380360622

Subject – LCSH

Rhetoric; Vulnerability (Personality trait); Identity (Psychology); Desire.

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

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