Feminist Rhetorical Theories

The authors discuss the theories of nine feminists--Cheris Kramarae, bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldúa, Mary Daly, Starhawk, Paula Gunn Allen, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Sally Miller Gearhart, and Sonia Johnson--who offer important, accessible insights into how individuals create and enact the worlds in which they choose to live. All of the theorists have made issues of symbol use central to their views of the world and have articulated feminist theories that have transformative potential for rhetorical theory. They represent different perspectives and positions on feminism that derive from standpoints that vary across race, ethnicity, and class. The authors organize the chapters on theorists around six components: a brief biography, the context in which her discussion of rhetoric occurs, her conceptualization of feminism, the kind of agent she sees acting in the world, the means available for acting in the world, and the potential transformations of theory that might result from her work. The authors hope the book serves as a point of entry to the theorist's original work and empowers individuals to think about feminism, rhetoric, and theory. Features and benefits of this book include: 1) fully developed rhetorical theories from feminist perspectives, offering feminist alternatives to traditional rhetorical theory; 2) coherent, systematic overviews of complex, large bodies of the work and ideas of feminist theorists whose ideas are relevant to rhetorical studies; and 3) theorists from diverse standpoints whose definitions of feminism demonstrate the diversity of feminism and of feminist rhetorical theories.

Accompanying volume also available from Waveland Press: Foss et al., Readings in Feminist Rhetorical Theory (ISBN 9781577664970).