Beyond Affirmation
Reckoning with Imperial Legacies in Feminist Rhetorical Theory
Will be published approx. on 20. October 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-8229-6821-4 (ISBN)
Description
Beyond Affirmation inspires feminist rhetorical scholarship to shift attention from the speech and action of individual rhetors to analysis of how and with what consequence rhetorics circulate. The book considers the rise of feminist rhetorical theory and historicizes it within the political moment of the Cold War. Beyond Affirmation attends to the rhetorical legacies of the Cold War and its imperialist project, showing how sentimentality subsumed the US academy and dominant feminist rhetorical method of recovery, resulting in the creation of exceptional rhetorical figures. Demonstrating politics of recovery work, chapters offer new methods for the twenty-first century. Through distinct case studies, the authors track the rhetorical processes through which subjects establish certain gendered, raced, imperial, or national political objectives. Rebecca Dingo and Rachel C. Riedner argue that scholars must address the contexts within which social actors speak and act as well as how rhetorical agency and action can be picked up and circulated for political purposes. By forwarding a transnational feminist rhetorical analytic as an alternative to rhetorics of affirmation, Beyond Affirmation emphasizes solidarity.
Reviews / Votes
Beyond Affirmation may be long overdue, but I am glad it is finally here. The book is an education all on its own. Rebecca Dingo and Rachel Riedner argue at an ambitious intersection, drawing transnational feminist, global comparative, human rights, and critical media scholars into a shared conversation about the central idea and problem of 'figures'-those catalyzing forces that activate a priori, harmful, and often violent gendered or racialized norms, and that are intrinsically tied to imperial megarhetorics. Their case studies are provocative but accessible, and their theorizing is rich, deftly treating each 'figure' as an entanglement of symbolic actions that cause some ideas or beliefs to stand in for others. -- Tarez Graban, Florida State University Beyond Affirmation traces the rhetorics of affirmation through which feminist scholarship inadvertently upholds systems of power. Through a transformative analysis of rhetorical figures, Rebecca Dingo and Rachel C. Riedner push the field beyond a liberal politics of inclusion toward methods that name and critique structures of violence and injustice. Ultimately, this book guides feminist rhetoricians toward rhetorical solidarities that enable us to intervene in systems of harm. -- Jennifer Nish, Michigan Technological UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Pittsburgh PA
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
4 b&w
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8229-6821-4 (9780822968214)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Rebecca Dingo (Author)
Rebecca Dingo is professor in the Department of English and the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri. She is the author of Networking Arguments: Rhetoric, Transnational Feminism, and Public Policy Writing.
Rachel C. Riedner (Author)
Rachel C. Riedner is professor of writing and of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at the George Washington University. She is the author of Writing Neoliberal Values: Rhetorical Connectivities and Globalized Capitalism.
Rebecca Dingo is professor in the Department of English and the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri. She is the author of Networking Arguments: Rhetoric, Transnational Feminism, and Public Policy Writing.
Rachel C. Riedner (Author)
Rachel C. Riedner is professor of writing and of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at the George Washington University. She is the author of Writing Neoliberal Values: Rhetorical Connectivities and Globalized Capitalism.