Anglo-american Feminist Challenges to the Rhetorical Traditions: Virginia Woolf, Mary Daly, Adrienne Rich - Softcover

Ratcliffe, Krista

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0809335166 ISBN 13: 9780809335169

Verlag: Southern Illinois University Press, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

Although women and men have different relationships to language and to each other, traditional theories of rhetoric do not foreground such gender differences. Krista Ratcliffe argues that because feminists generally have not conceptualized their language theories from the perspective of rhetoric and composition studies, rhetoric and composition scholars must construct feminist theories of rhetoric by employing a variety of interwoven strategies: recovering lost or marginalized texts; rereading traditional rhetoric texts; extrapolating rhetorical theories from such nonrhetoric texts as letters, diaries, essays, cookbooks, and other sources; and constructing their own theories of rhetoric.

Focusing on the third option, Ratcliffe explores ways in which the rhetorical theories of Virginia Woolf, Mary Daly, and Adrienne Rich may be extrapolated from their Anglo-American feminist texts through examination of the interrelationship between what these authors write and how they write. In other words, she extrapolates feminist theories of rhetoric from interwoven claims and textual strategies. By inviting Woolf, Daly, and Rich into the rhetorical traditions and by modeling the extrapolation strategy/methodology on their writings, Ratcliffe shows how feminist texts about women, language, and culture may be reread from the vantage point of rhetoric to construct feminist theories of rhetoric. She also outlines the pedagogical implications of these three feminist theories of rhetoric, thus contributing to ongoing discussions of feminist pedagogies.

Traditional rhetorical theories are gender-blind, ignoring the reality that women and men occupy different cultural spaces and that these spaces are further complicated by race and class, Ratcliffe explains. Arguing that issues such as who can talk, where one can talk, and how one can talk emerge in daily life but are often disregarded in rhetorical theories, Ratcliffe rereads Roland Barthes’ "The Old Rhetoric" to show the limitations of classical rhetorical theories for women and feminists. Discovering spaces for feminist theories of rhetoric in the rhetorical traditions, Ratcliffe invites readers not only to question how women have been located as a part of— and apart from—these traditions but also to explore the implications for rhetorical history, theory, and pedagogy.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Krista Ratcliffe is a professor and the chair of the English department at Purdue University. 

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In this lucid and innovative work, Krista Ratcliffe successfully extrapolates rhetorical theories from three feminist writers not generally thought of as rhetoricians. Ratcliffe's skillful use of her methodology demonstrates a new model for examining women's texts. Her work situates Woolf's, Daly's, and Rich's feminist theories of rhetoric within current conversations about feminist pedagogies, particularly the interweavings of critical thinking, reading, and writing. Ratcliffe concludes with an application to teaching. This well-reasoned and convincing study will appeal to a widely varied audience: women in rhetoric and composition who feel that traditional theories do not speak to them; teachers of rhetorical history who want to explore gender concepts; composition teachers who want to become more aware of gender differences and pedagogical strategies to accommodate these differences; literary theorists and speech communication scholars who wish to track new methodologies for examining gender concerns; women's studies scholars who want to continue the examination of how language constructs and reflects patriarchy; and other students and scholars who simply are interested in theories of rhetoric, feminism, and pedagogy.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Southern Illinois University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0809335166
• ISBN 13: 9780809335169
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 227
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar