Off-campus WSU users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your WSU access ID and password, then click the "Off-campus Download" button below.
Non-WSU users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
1-1-2003
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Communication
First Advisor
Bernard Brock
Abstract
This study investigates methods of rhetorical criticism used to analyze the rhetoric of African American women. The work examines how African American women use rhetoric to live in a hostile world. The coping strategies derived from the rhetoric are examined, as well as the way the rhetoric is used to build and maintain identity. The study examines artifacts created by and for African American women using both the Afrocentric and Feminist criticism methods. While these methods are often utilized to analyze rhetoric of this nature, this study highlights the inadequacies of each in terms of artifacts generated specifically by and for African American women. Womanist philosophy is examined and then synthesized in order to develop an alternative methodology. This synthesized methodology is a more adequate tool to investigate the aforementioned rhetorical artifacts. This investigation leads to an effective methodology to explore the true essence of the artifacts; the coping skills generated, and the identity creation capabilities.
Recommended Citation
Sullivan-Morgan, Deatra H., "A womanist analysis of the rhetorical coping strategies and identity of African American women" (2003). Wayne State University Dissertations. 3295.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/3295