عنوان

Fire, sacrifice, and social change: The rhetoric of self immolation

Number

TL48027

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Fire, sacrifice, and social change: The rhetoric of self immolation

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Meredith Diane Neville-Shepard

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Rowland, Robert C.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Kansas

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2014

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

189

Text of Note

Committee members: Farmer, Frank M.; Harris, Scott; Innocenti, Beth; Parson, Donn W.

Text of Note

Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-37342-4

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Discipline of degree

Communication Studies

Body granting the degree

University of Kansas

Text preceding or following the note

2014

Text of Note

Self-immolation is a complex rhetorical gesture that confounds many traditional norms of analysis, because it is an act in which the rhetorical canvas is the body. In this dissertation I analyze mediated responses to self-immolation in order to account for when self-immolation is likely to influence an audience and prompt change in society. Based on my findings during this analysis, I constructed an appropriate theory based explanation to illustrate how and why self- immolation achieves widespread resonance in some cases but not in others. First, the self- immolation must be recognized as justified due to a widely perceived crisis. In other words, the audience of the self-immolation must be able to comprehend why someone would take such an extreme action. Second, the protest must resonate with the audience's values and cultural beliefs. Whether due to religion or some other factor, the mediated narratives of self-immolations must be framed in a way that generates identification. Third, the style and power of the government in charge of the self-immolator's community will have a significant influence on how the self- immolator's story is told. Following an introduction to this study and a description of the history and religious roots of self-immolation, I apply this theory to multiple cases of self-immolation. In Chapter Three I analyze self-immolations during the Vietnam War era. In Chapters Four and Five I analyze self-immolations in Tibet and the Arab Spring, respectively. Finally, in Chapter Six, I discuss the implications of this study.

Communication; Rhetoric

Subject Term

Language, literature and linguistics;Communication and the arts;Bouazizi, mohamed;Morrison, norman;Protest;Rhetoric;Self-immolation;Tibet

Pitsas, Athanasios

Rowland, Robert C.

Subdivision

Communication Studies

University of Kansas

Call Number

1637637627; 3665039

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y