Feminist rhetoric

Feminist rhetoric is seen as the act of producing or the study of feminist discourses. According to Jacqueline Jones Royster, it is a fairly new field that works to bring the narrative of all demographics of women into the pedagogy of rhetoric. Scholars of feminist rhetoric seek to bring women and their stories into the history of rhetoric; combine issues in feminist and rhetoric theory; and produce rhetorical criticism from feminist perspectives, with the ultimate goal of elevating historically marginalized voices.
History.
In 1973, feminist scholar Karlyn Kohrs Campbell wrote an influential essay, "The Rhetoric of Women's Liberation: An Oxymoron", that drew feminists' attention to women's role as communicators within rhetorical frameworks, and to the relevance of feminist theory to the study of rhetoric. Feminist scholar Patricia Bizzell noted in 1992 that classical canon of rhetoric consists almost entirely of well-educated male authors. In addition, feminist rhetoric scholars argued that the world of rhetoric was suffused with patriarchal values. To address this perceived problem, they made efforts to include women authors in the history of rhetoric; pointed out connections between feminist issues and theories of rhetoric; and wrote rhetorical criticism from feminist perspectives. These academics were initially inspired by feminist scholarship outside of rhetoric and composition studies, but eventually developed a distinctive school within this tradition.
Following the initial feminist rhetoric movement, the Coalition of Women (later Feminist) Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition was formed in 1988. According to its mission statement, this coalition "fosters inquiry in the histories, theories, and pedagogues of rhetoric and composition" for the "advancement of feminist research". It is composed of teachers and scholars dedicated to promoting the intersectionality of communication and collaboration within feminist rhetoric and research methods. Founding members included Winifred Horner, Jan Swearingen, Nan Johnson, Marjorie Curry Woods, and Kathleen Welch. It continues with Andrea Lunsford, Jacqueline Jones Royster, Cheryl Glenn, Shirley Wilson Logan, and other contemporary feminist writing scholars. 1996 brought the publication of "Peitho", the coalition's newspaper, published by Susan Jarratt. In present day feminist rhetoric, a point of emphasis is changing research methods and methodologies to include the discourse of marginalized groups.
Feminist rhetoric works to expand the rhetorical canon. The rhetorical canon is traditionally composed of five parts: Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. They were introduced by the Roman orator Cicero in his treatise "De Inventione" around 50 BC. The idea was expanded by the Roman rhetorician Quintilian 150 years later in "Institutio Oratoria." The rhetorical canon has been used in rhetorical education since its creation. Rhetorical treatises have based their purpose off these canons. Rhetoric is integrated in the education system, which means that students are taught the rhetorical canon as well. Feminist rhetoric scholars argue that this canon, and its methods of persuasion or argument, exclude some valuable forms of public discourse and narrative, and seek to expand it accordingly.
Themes.
Methodology in rhetoric studies.
Scholars, such as Jessica Enoch and Jaqueline Jones Royster, introduced the idea of changing the way research is recognized and constructed. Scholars in rhetoric studies agree there is a plethora of voices and demographics to draw upon for data necessary for research in the field. Researchers suggest this is achieved by asking questions that have never been asked before, recognizing the wealth of materials (or lack thereof) in archives, and expanding the idea of an archive. In recent years, archives have been deconstructed, or critically analyzed, outside of scholarly articles. Feminist rhetorical academics work to develop research methods and methodologies by including new types of archival research such as- yearbooks, small town newspapers, and community contributing archival websites.
Global narratives.
Feminist rhetoric is the study of persuasive communication that focuses on the social, political, cultural, and economic inequalities of genders. Specifically, transnational feminists such as Chandra Talpade Mohanty have addressed, "how women's lives are shaped by national boundaries and histories of colonialism" Feminist rhetorical scholars ask questions of how rhetoric, writing studies, and social change intersect, or may be influenced by politics, the economy, religions, cultures, and education. A key term used in this field is "transnationality", defined as the culture of one nation moving through borders to another nation. It is used with the terms cultural hybridity and intertextuality, which continue the theory of cultures, texts, and ideas mixing with one another.
Gender.
Feminist rhetoric works to represent the voices and discourse of genders that go beyond the binary of male and female. Transgender discourse is another main point of focus in feminist rhetoric, which is recognized by scholars as a lack of privilege some authors have. Royster and others have called for research focused on how gender dynamics affect communication, including rhetoric.
Race and ethnicity.
Race and ethnicity is an area of focus for several scholars in feminist rhetoric. They have changed research methods to include international races and ethnicity outside the typical rhetoric canon. Feminist rhetoric focuses on how archiving cultural rhetoric, such as that of Mexican-American women, can create a better understanding of the pedagogy of research methods. An issue that has arisen in feminist rhetoric is the discourse of colored women. “ Black woman scholar serves as a keeper of rhetorical culture by revealing the long-standing diversity of ideas, culture, and aesthetics of Black women's intellectual tradition and the way in which Black women have constructed theory and its practice in their daily lives.” Some female scholars of color have written about their perceived need to mask their identity when sharing their voices and opinions. Female Rhetoric scholars of color who have dealt with experiences where they voice their opinions publicly were either challenged or unentitiled to because they were part of a marginalized group. Feminist rhetoric theory works to legitimize the ethnic discourse of women and give it a platform in the academia of rhetoric and writing studies.
Challenges.
Feminist rhetoric scholars have noted the difficulty in including diverse voices in the rhetorical canon. Scholars have argued that changes in research methods may be needed to better include the voices of those who are disabled, trans, and queer in rhetoric studies.
Despite longstanding feminist opposition to processes of canonization as inherently imposing limits and excluding perspectives, feminist rhetoric has begun to develop its own canon of commonly referenced texts. Accordingly, feminist rhetoric scholars try to include the works of unknown feminist rhetors in their theorization processes, and develop a gendered analysis or approach that actively includes rhetors who are traditionally excluded from rhetorical canons, such as women of color or low socioeconomic status.
Applications.
Rhetors, along with expanding the feminist rhetorical canon, work to make feminist rhetoric applicable in pedagogy and education. Scholars discuss the importance of research, whether that be changing research methods or looking further into textual research. Some suggest this can be done by theorizing, others want to employ critical imagination. Theory as a research method approaches discourse from different communities as a generalized idea that allows people to participate in the world through rhetoric. Feminist rhetoric sees theory in this sense as a form for people to speak out and be included in the rhetorical canon. Critical imagination is using the silence, or lack of work from feminist rhetors, to extrapolate. Scholars discuss how this involves understanding that there is more to not only feminist rhetoric, but feminist practice in theory, than what is written down in textbooks or history. Scholars, such as Royster and Kirsch, acknowledge that feminist rhetoric needs to draw from the silence to help set a new precedent for rhetorical practices in the future. A part of critical imagination is knowing that the documentation of rhetoric thus far isn’t the only important rhetoric that should contribute to pedagogy.
Implications.
A goal of feminist rhetoric is to be viewed as a rhetorical theory of writing as opposed to a social theory. Feminist rhetoric seeks to influence the pedagogy of writing in high school and other levels of academia. Scholars in the field of feminist rhetoric seek to open academic discourse and pedagogy of rhetoric to all types of people.
Further reading.
Royster & Kirsch (2012) recognize, among others, the following works as of particular interest: