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Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2025
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
English
First Advisor
Richard Marback
Abstract
This dissertation examines the need for the development of more Black women’s rhetoric courses at predominantly white institutions. While there are rhetoric and literature courses centered on Black feminism and womanism, few or no classes centralize the personal experiences of Black women in academia, including both students and teachers. The introduction is a code-meshing autoethnographic flashback of the author’s experiences in academia, both as student and teacher, explaining the need for Black feminist and womanist approaches in the classroom. Code-switching is used throughout this dissertation to intentionally disrupt the traditional rhetoric used in English classrooms, that diminish the language practices of marginalized communities. This course design explores how an intermediate composition, Writing, and Community course grounded in Black Feminist pedagogical practices and multimodal projects aligns with Womanist rhetoric. Using a combination of qualitative research methodologies such as autoethnography, Black Feminist-Womanist Storytelling, and a teacher observation journal analyzing student collaborative digital zones and final reflections. The author argues that the implementation of Blacker feminist and womanist-centered rhetoric courses will help students engage in Black Feminism and womanist rhetoric, as they produce a variety of multimodal writing assignments. This dissertation concludes with the author suggesting that a Black feminist pedagogy and womanist rhetoric course creates a more just society by leveraging students’ rhetorical skills.
Recommended Citation
Ridgeway, Jessica Lynn, "Reimagining, Rethinking, And Reclaiming Composition: A Black Feminist-Womanist Rhetoric Remix" (2025). Wayne State University Dissertations. 4214.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/4214