Papers by Ellen Gorsevski
Journal of Black Studies, 2020
This essay explores discourses of Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), appreciating her intersec... more This essay explores discourses of Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), appreciating her intersectional standpoint as a leader in Trumpian times, and as the lone AA woman dissenter who has long advocated peace over
This essay explores Pocahontas as a polysemic symbol of multiculturalism in the US. Such critique... more This essay explores Pocahontas as a polysemic symbol of multiculturalism in the US. Such critique supports decolonizing by illuminating normalizing processes refashioning Indigenous people past and present within masculinized whiteness narratives that dominate the US's current political climate. President Trump's repetition of Pocahontas as slur presents an opportunity to theorize possible ways white supremacist memes invoke colonial myths, inviting intersectional silencing through associatively equating Pocahontas, via synecdoche, with Senator Warren as representative of women in progressive politics. I problematize my standpoint as a white scholar with a matrilineal family narrative linkage to Pocahontas. Indigenous histories, bodies and voices may be variously represented by synecdoche in simultaneously positive and negative ways through polysemy. Exploring her mythic role as peacebuilder and multicultural heroine indicates possibilities for agency of those identified with her within multicultural discourses.
KEYWORDS: Visual rhetoric, Pocahontas, Native Americans, Trump, anticolonial politics, matrilineal standpoint
Rhetorical study has long been, and continues to be, crucial in pressing for the remediation of h... more Rhetorical study has long been, and continues to be, crucial in pressing for the remediation of human suffering worldwide. Interdisciplinarity with complementary areas of study, such as cultural studies, legal studies, economics and other studies, has been part of rhetoric’s vital role in advocating civil and human rights for those harmed by communicative practices that reify variables such as race, class, nationality, or sex and gender as lesser statuses. Communication scholars can equally embrace knowledge across disciplines such as biology, veterinary studies, conservation and environmental studies, to support respect for and communication on behalf of animals. Hybridity in humanimal and biotic communication exists, but presently lacks institutional legitimacy. From fighting poaching to pressing for creation and communication for nonhuman animal recognition, recontextualizing rhetorical theory within biotic hybridity can contribute to peacebuilding and justice for all sentient beings. [Note: To conform to copyright at Lexington Press, this pdf is just a wee glimpse, you'll need to get the book to read the whole chapter].
This essay discusses how neoliberalism's giant agri-meats business to food consumer model can be ... more This essay discusses how neoliberalism's giant agri-meats business to food consumer model can be addressed in classes by using readings, video clips, films and other media to enable students to engage in a mindful and anti-consumerist stance. The essay proposes ways to invite open-ended class discussion of shared suffering by both non-human animals and human beings as workers/consumers within neoliberalism.
LOOKING FOR AN AMAZING CLASS* in Fall 2015?
SIGN UP FOR… COMM 4200.
Discourses of Power (3 credi... more LOOKING FOR AN AMAZING CLASS* in Fall 2015?
SIGN UP FOR… COMM 4200.
Discourses of Power (3 credits).
Instructor: Dr. E.W. Gorsevski, author + recipient of the B. Aubrey Fisher Award
In this course, we will work together to investigate underlying politics in a number of contexts such as racism, ethnocentrism, speciesism, militarism, consumerism, seeking an understanding of those power structures that are often buried beneath our normalized everyday communication practices. Our course texts, media, assignments and discussions will examine how many dimensions like identity, cultural capital and power are constructed through our communication.
Prerequisites: COMM 1020. (This course may count as an elective for both non-majors and majors in Communication; contact your academic advisor for details.)
Course books:
1) Traditional text: Van Dijk, T. (2008). Discourse and Power. Palgrave Macmillan.
2) Illustrated teaching text: Andreas, J. (2004). Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism. AK Press.org.
*Disclaimer: Satisfaction depends on variables such as class attendance, assignment completion, and productivity of each individual student.
LOOKING FOR AN AMAZING CLASS* in Fall 2015?
SIGN UP FOR…
COMM 4200. Discourses of Power (3 credi... more LOOKING FOR AN AMAZING CLASS* in Fall 2015?
SIGN UP FOR…
COMM 4200. Discourses of Power (3 credits).
Instructor: Dr. E.W. Gorsevski, author + recipient of the B. Aubrey Fisher Award
In this course, we will work together to investigate underlying politics in a number of contexts such as racism, ethnocentrism, speciesism, militarism, consumerism, seeking an understanding of those power structures that are often buried beneath our normalized everyday communication practices. Our course texts, media, assignments and discussions will examine how many dimensions like identity, cultural capital and power are constructed through our communication.
Prerequisites: COMM 1020. (This course may count as an elective for both non-majors and majors in Communication; contact your academic advisor for details.)
Course books:
1) Traditional text: Van Dijk, T. (2008). Discourse and Power. Palgrave Macmillan.
2) Illustrated teaching text: Andreas, J. (2004). Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism. AK Press.org.
*Disclaimer: Satisfaction depends on variables such as class attendance, assignment completion, and productivity of each individual student.
ABSTRACT
Chapter 10
Frank Church’s Natural Place in American Public Address: Light Green Oratio... more ABSTRACT
Chapter 10
Frank Church’s Natural Place in American Public Address: Light Green Orations that Saved “The River of No Return Wilderness”
Although it remains obscure for most Americans, especially compared to famous natural landscapes such as Yellowstone, Idaho’s River of No Return Wilderness (RNRW), is just as spectacular. As a result of tireless campaigning by environmentalists like Senator Frank Church of Idaho, the RNRW was established by Congress in 1980 as the largest official wilderness area in the lower 48 states. This chapter’s essay explores Church’s oratory to preserve Idaho’s threatened wilderness lands for future generations.
This case study examines Church’s oratory as influential, moderate environmental rhetoric, which I term “light green” environmental discourse. Church’s light green rhetoric proffers lessons for environmentalists today who face a similarly challenging rhetorical situation that is rife with pressures to roll back tenuously held environmental concerns in favor of ‘dirty’ energy initiatives presented by advocates of many industries that are destructive to the precious few remaining wilderness areas in the U.S.
Church was so instrumental in securing recent additions to preserved natural spaces in the American West that, following Church’s death in 1982, Idaho Senator Jim McClure successfully lobbied Congress to rename the wilderness, prefixing ‘Frank Church’ to the RNRW. This case study examines Church’s influential rhetoric, proffering lessons for environmentalists today who face a similarly challenging rhetorical situation.
In appreciating Church’s public address, ranging from formal to informal settings between Washington, DC and town halls in Idaho’s back country, this study covers two key questions. First, how was Church able to work so effectively with Idaho’s myriad arch-conservative political factions, which favored using the lands for development, including logging and ranching, and convince conflicting groups to instead set aside massive land spaces? Second, considering the environmental nadir from the 1960s to the 1980s, when natural preservation was benighted with an onslaught of coal, oil and gas industries incursions, how was Church able to persuade federal and nationwide factions to likewise save this extraordinary wilderness for posterity? Overall, this study discusses Church as an award-winning orator, who contributed his significant rhetorical skills in the service of great American environmental preservation, from his sparkling eloquence in debates leading to passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act to his final years in the Senate, culminating with his RNRW victory in 1980.
The Handbook of Media & Mass Communication Theory, 2014
Teaching the Sociology Of Peace, War And Social …
womenandlanguage.org
... Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, San Diego, C... more ... Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, San Diego, CA. Lyon, SE (2002). Alva Myrdal and Viola Klein's women's two roles: women writing about women's dilemmas. International Conference: Alva Myrdal's Questions to Our Times. ...
Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature …, Jan 1, 2012
Approved: Robert S. Iltis This thesis examines the rhetoric (persuasive discourse) of the Fourtee... more Approved: Robert S. Iltis This thesis examines the rhetoric (persuasive discourse) of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet. The analysis of this thesis provides an historical foundation of understanding for the international campaign of rhetoric which the Dalai Lama has been leading for the past forty years, culminating with his Nobel Peace Prize award in 1989.
... performances in the media also factor into a given society's ability to transfor... more ... performances in the media also factor into a given society's ability to transform itself anew, creating possibilities for peace (Bratic, 2008). ... Shifting focus from African nations' issues toward the post-conflict scene in the Balkans, Olivera Simic's essay, Activism for Peace in Bosnia ...
Millennial Mythmaking: Essays on the Power of …, Jan 1, 2010
Second Life is an expansive virtual world that implicitly promises personal liberation from the e... more Second Life is an expansive virtual world that implicitly promises personal liberation from the everyday woes we experience in our modern lives. Much like other interactive virtual reality spaces/places such as the Sims, Second Life (hereafter SL) conjures a new life for the ...
Uploads
Papers by Ellen Gorsevski
Here’s the link my Blog post contribution to ACN on The events of 6 Jan. 2021—pardon a few typos or editorial bits, I had to work fast so they could upload it quickly!
https://ashlandcenterfornonviolence.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-storming-of-us-capitol.html
Please need to click on the link to read the full blog post.
KEYWORDS: Visual rhetoric, Pocahontas, Native Americans, Trump, anticolonial politics, matrilineal standpoint
SIGN UP FOR… COMM 4200.
Discourses of Power (3 credits).
Instructor: Dr. E.W. Gorsevski, author + recipient of the B. Aubrey Fisher Award
In this course, we will work together to investigate underlying politics in a number of contexts such as racism, ethnocentrism, speciesism, militarism, consumerism, seeking an understanding of those power structures that are often buried beneath our normalized everyday communication practices. Our course texts, media, assignments and discussions will examine how many dimensions like identity, cultural capital and power are constructed through our communication.
Prerequisites: COMM 1020. (This course may count as an elective for both non-majors and majors in Communication; contact your academic advisor for details.)
Course books:
1) Traditional text: Van Dijk, T. (2008). Discourse and Power. Palgrave Macmillan.
2) Illustrated teaching text: Andreas, J. (2004). Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism. AK Press.org.
*Disclaimer: Satisfaction depends on variables such as class attendance, assignment completion, and productivity of each individual student.
SIGN UP FOR…
COMM 4200. Discourses of Power (3 credits).
Instructor: Dr. E.W. Gorsevski, author + recipient of the B. Aubrey Fisher Award
In this course, we will work together to investigate underlying politics in a number of contexts such as racism, ethnocentrism, speciesism, militarism, consumerism, seeking an understanding of those power structures that are often buried beneath our normalized everyday communication practices. Our course texts, media, assignments and discussions will examine how many dimensions like identity, cultural capital and power are constructed through our communication.
Prerequisites: COMM 1020. (This course may count as an elective for both non-majors and majors in Communication; contact your academic advisor for details.)
Course books:
1) Traditional text: Van Dijk, T. (2008). Discourse and Power. Palgrave Macmillan.
2) Illustrated teaching text: Andreas, J. (2004). Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism. AK Press.org.
*Disclaimer: Satisfaction depends on variables such as class attendance, assignment completion, and productivity of each individual student.
Chapter 10
Frank Church’s Natural Place in American Public Address: Light Green Orations that Saved “The River of No Return Wilderness”
Although it remains obscure for most Americans, especially compared to famous natural landscapes such as Yellowstone, Idaho’s River of No Return Wilderness (RNRW), is just as spectacular. As a result of tireless campaigning by environmentalists like Senator Frank Church of Idaho, the RNRW was established by Congress in 1980 as the largest official wilderness area in the lower 48 states. This chapter’s essay explores Church’s oratory to preserve Idaho’s threatened wilderness lands for future generations.
This case study examines Church’s oratory as influential, moderate environmental rhetoric, which I term “light green” environmental discourse. Church’s light green rhetoric proffers lessons for environmentalists today who face a similarly challenging rhetorical situation that is rife with pressures to roll back tenuously held environmental concerns in favor of ‘dirty’ energy initiatives presented by advocates of many industries that are destructive to the precious few remaining wilderness areas in the U.S.
Church was so instrumental in securing recent additions to preserved natural spaces in the American West that, following Church’s death in 1982, Idaho Senator Jim McClure successfully lobbied Congress to rename the wilderness, prefixing ‘Frank Church’ to the RNRW. This case study examines Church’s influential rhetoric, proffering lessons for environmentalists today who face a similarly challenging rhetorical situation.
In appreciating Church’s public address, ranging from formal to informal settings between Washington, DC and town halls in Idaho’s back country, this study covers two key questions. First, how was Church able to work so effectively with Idaho’s myriad arch-conservative political factions, which favored using the lands for development, including logging and ranching, and convince conflicting groups to instead set aside massive land spaces? Second, considering the environmental nadir from the 1960s to the 1980s, when natural preservation was benighted with an onslaught of coal, oil and gas industries incursions, how was Church able to persuade federal and nationwide factions to likewise save this extraordinary wilderness for posterity? Overall, this study discusses Church as an award-winning orator, who contributed his significant rhetorical skills in the service of great American environmental preservation, from his sparkling eloquence in debates leading to passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act to his final years in the Senate, culminating with his RNRW victory in 1980.
Here’s the link my Blog post contribution to ACN on The events of 6 Jan. 2021—pardon a few typos or editorial bits, I had to work fast so they could upload it quickly!
https://ashlandcenterfornonviolence.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-storming-of-us-capitol.html
Please need to click on the link to read the full blog post.
KEYWORDS: Visual rhetoric, Pocahontas, Native Americans, Trump, anticolonial politics, matrilineal standpoint
SIGN UP FOR… COMM 4200.
Discourses of Power (3 credits).
Instructor: Dr. E.W. Gorsevski, author + recipient of the B. Aubrey Fisher Award
In this course, we will work together to investigate underlying politics in a number of contexts such as racism, ethnocentrism, speciesism, militarism, consumerism, seeking an understanding of those power structures that are often buried beneath our normalized everyday communication practices. Our course texts, media, assignments and discussions will examine how many dimensions like identity, cultural capital and power are constructed through our communication.
Prerequisites: COMM 1020. (This course may count as an elective for both non-majors and majors in Communication; contact your academic advisor for details.)
Course books:
1) Traditional text: Van Dijk, T. (2008). Discourse and Power. Palgrave Macmillan.
2) Illustrated teaching text: Andreas, J. (2004). Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism. AK Press.org.
*Disclaimer: Satisfaction depends on variables such as class attendance, assignment completion, and productivity of each individual student.
SIGN UP FOR…
COMM 4200. Discourses of Power (3 credits).
Instructor: Dr. E.W. Gorsevski, author + recipient of the B. Aubrey Fisher Award
In this course, we will work together to investigate underlying politics in a number of contexts such as racism, ethnocentrism, speciesism, militarism, consumerism, seeking an understanding of those power structures that are often buried beneath our normalized everyday communication practices. Our course texts, media, assignments and discussions will examine how many dimensions like identity, cultural capital and power are constructed through our communication.
Prerequisites: COMM 1020. (This course may count as an elective for both non-majors and majors in Communication; contact your academic advisor for details.)
Course books:
1) Traditional text: Van Dijk, T. (2008). Discourse and Power. Palgrave Macmillan.
2) Illustrated teaching text: Andreas, J. (2004). Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism. AK Press.org.
*Disclaimer: Satisfaction depends on variables such as class attendance, assignment completion, and productivity of each individual student.
Chapter 10
Frank Church’s Natural Place in American Public Address: Light Green Orations that Saved “The River of No Return Wilderness”
Although it remains obscure for most Americans, especially compared to famous natural landscapes such as Yellowstone, Idaho’s River of No Return Wilderness (RNRW), is just as spectacular. As a result of tireless campaigning by environmentalists like Senator Frank Church of Idaho, the RNRW was established by Congress in 1980 as the largest official wilderness area in the lower 48 states. This chapter’s essay explores Church’s oratory to preserve Idaho’s threatened wilderness lands for future generations.
This case study examines Church’s oratory as influential, moderate environmental rhetoric, which I term “light green” environmental discourse. Church’s light green rhetoric proffers lessons for environmentalists today who face a similarly challenging rhetorical situation that is rife with pressures to roll back tenuously held environmental concerns in favor of ‘dirty’ energy initiatives presented by advocates of many industries that are destructive to the precious few remaining wilderness areas in the U.S.
Church was so instrumental in securing recent additions to preserved natural spaces in the American West that, following Church’s death in 1982, Idaho Senator Jim McClure successfully lobbied Congress to rename the wilderness, prefixing ‘Frank Church’ to the RNRW. This case study examines Church’s influential rhetoric, proffering lessons for environmentalists today who face a similarly challenging rhetorical situation.
In appreciating Church’s public address, ranging from formal to informal settings between Washington, DC and town halls in Idaho’s back country, this study covers two key questions. First, how was Church able to work so effectively with Idaho’s myriad arch-conservative political factions, which favored using the lands for development, including logging and ranching, and convince conflicting groups to instead set aside massive land spaces? Second, considering the environmental nadir from the 1960s to the 1980s, when natural preservation was benighted with an onslaught of coal, oil and gas industries incursions, how was Church able to persuade federal and nationwide factions to likewise save this extraordinary wilderness for posterity? Overall, this study discusses Church as an award-winning orator, who contributed his significant rhetorical skills in the service of great American environmental preservation, from his sparkling eloquence in debates leading to passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act to his final years in the Senate, culminating with his RNRW victory in 1980.
August 2020
ACN Blog article (‘blarticle’) on assessing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima from a nonviolent perspective [circa Aug. 2020].
Here’s the link my Blog post contribution to ACN on The atomic weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in light of current nuclear policies.
Scroll down [past the top blog post] to get to my blog post contribution at:
https://ashlandcenterfornonviolence.blogspot.com/2020/08/