The authors analyze the rhetorical discourse characteristic of the Chicano protest movement of the sixties and seventies, focusing on four prominent activists, Cesar Chavez, Rodolfo Corky Gonzalez, Jose Angel Gutierrez, and Reies Lopez Tijerina. How these militant spokesmen employed their extensive skill with words is closely examined and analyzed. In the process, much about the nature, function, and meaning of the Chicano protest movement becomes clear. Similarities and differences in their rhetorical styles are discussed, as are their different backgrounds, personalities, goals, audiences, and the issues they addressed. Included is an analysis of the themes, appeals, and symbols they popularized in ther personal vision of what America ought to be for Chicanos. The volume also contains an essay by Jose Angel Gutierrez, an essay on the counter-rhetoric and ideology of other Mexican-American leaders of the time, and a bibliographic essay.

A War of Words: Chicano Protest in the 1960s and 1970s (Contributions in Ethnic Studies)

Jensen, Richard J.

Hammerback, John C.

Guiterrez, Jose A.

History

Praeger

Chavez was an indefatigable speaker, writer, and non-discursive communicator who developed a well-thought-out approach to his rhetorical discourse and placed his speaking and writing at the center of his career. Hammerback and Jensen reveal that Chavez's worldview motivated him to work so tirelessly and directed him to the particular rhetorical qualities and techniques that characterized his discourse. The authors also demonstrate Chavez's surprising effectiveness as a rhetor despite his soft-spoken style, uncharacteristic of most powerful orators. The fact that Chavez had an extraordinarily powerful effect on audiences is well known; how Chavez achieved that effect has never before been explained. Hammerback and Jensen developed a model "to help explain Chavez's startling transformation of some audiences and persuasion of others." By merging thought and character in his themes, arguments, and explanations, and in his first and second personae, Chavez was able to identify with the character of his listeners. That identification induced many audience members to support Chavez's agenda for union activism.

The Rhetorical Career of Cesar Chavez

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Texas A & M Univ Pr

The Words of César Chávez

César Chávez's relentless campaign for social justice for farm workers and laborers in the United States marked a milestone in U.S. history. Through his powerful rhetoric and impassioned calls to action, Chávez transformed as well as persuaded and inspired his audiences. In this first published anthology, Richard J. Jensen and John C. Hammerback present Chávez in his own terms. Through this collection and through his own words and analysis of his major speeches and writings, Jensen and Hammerback reveal the rhetorical qualities and underlying rhetorical dynamics of a master communicator and also offer a rich source of the history of the farm workers' movement Chávez led from the early 1960s to his death in 1993. Each chapter features a clear introductory section that helps the reader focus on the highlights that won Chávez a reputation as an effective communicator. The editors explain the sources of Chávez's motivation to campaign for farm workers, his selection of characteristic and signature rhetorical elements, and the success of specific campaigns and his overall career. The Words of César Chávez offers an important new resource for scholars of public discourse, Chicano studies, and César Chávez himself. It complements the editors' earlier study, The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez, by providing the primary materials for that rhetorical profile of Chávez. Through his own words, Jensen and Hammerback present Chávez doing what he did best: teaching and influencing audiences who would enact his agenda to create a new and better world.

Business & Money

Economics

Texas A&M University Press

Although born into one of the least powerful segments of American society, César Chávez led the farm-labor movement to unprecedented heights. His powerful effect on audiences is well known, but award-winning scholars John C. Hammerback and Richard J. Jensen offer the first explanation of how Chávez achieved that effect. Although other studies of Chávez exist, none has examined so thoroughly his rhetoric nor analyzed in depth such a large number of Chávez's own texts—scores of which have previously been unstudied. Chávez was an indefatigable speaker, writer, and non-discursive communicator who developed a well-thought-out approach to his rhetorical discourse and placed his speaking and writing at the very center of his career. By merging thought and character in his themes, arguments, and explanations, and in his first and second personae, Chávez was able to identify with the character of his listeners. That identification induced many audience members to support Chávez's agenda for union activism. The authors have developed a model "to help explain Chávez's startling transformation of some audiences and persuasion of others." Hammerback and Jensen reveal that Chávez's world view motivated him to work tirelessly and directed him to the particular rhetorical qualities and techniques that characterized his discourse. The authors also demonstrate Chávez's surprising effectiveness as a rhetor despite his soft-spoken style, uncharacteristic of most powerful orators.

The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez

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