COMPOSING AGENCY: USING INQUIRY TO PROMOTE SOCIAL ACTION

Gurley, Leanna

COMPOSING AGENCY: USING INQUIRY TO PROMOTE SOCIAL ACTION

dc.contributor.advisor	Kates, Susan
dc.contributor.advisor	Carter, Christopher
dc.contributor.author	Gurley, Leanna
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Tarabochia, Sandra
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Leitch, Vincent
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Reedy, Justin
dc.date.accessioned	2017-08-24T19:48:12Z
dc.date.available	2017-08-24T19:48:12Z
dc.date.issued	2017-08-01
dc.date.manuscript	2017-06-28
dc.description.abstract	In Rhetoric/Composition studies, agency has been a highly contested concept, straightaway invoking the tension between two dominant perspectives. Agency is viewed as either an internal quality possessed by an individual or a construction of external discourses. While such discussions seeking to define agency are important, they tend to focus on interpretation and analysis over the production of agency, which is a key component of social action. People must believe their deliberate actions can cause positive socio-political change. With this dissertation, I propose that thinking of agency as a form of rhetorical invention puts the focus on the production of agency for effective social action. In working towards this goal, I develop the notion of activist inquiry: a non-prescriptive, inquiry-oriented approach to inventing agency for social action based on Jane Addams’s rhetorical strategies in Democracy and Social Ethics.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11244/51920
dc.language	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Language	en_US
dc.subject	Rhetoric	en_US
dc.subject	Composition	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Ph.D.	en_US
dc.title	COMPOSING AGENCY: USING INQUIRY TO PROMOTE SOCIAL ACTION	en_US
ou.group	College of Arts and Sciences::Department of English	en_US