Historical studies of rhetorical women here and there: Methodological challenges to dominant interpretive frameworks

Rethinking Feminist Rhetoric and Historiography in a Global Context: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

“…In the past three decades, moving away from a Eurocentric paradigm, comparatists have sought to identify and use indigenous terms and concepts to study non-Western traditions in their own historical and cultural contexts (e.g., Combs 2006;Garrett 1993;Lipson 2009;Lu 1998Lu , 2004Lyon 2008;Mao 2003Mao , 2007; meanwhile, feminist rhetoricians have employed rereading, recovery, and extrapolation to challenge the gender-biased assumptions about rhetoric embedded in canonical Western theories and recuperate women's contributions to rhetoric (e.g., Bordelon 2007;Campbell 1989;Enoch 2005Enoch , 2008Glenn 1997;Jarratt and Ong 1995;Logan 1999;Mattingly 1998;Mountford 2003;Ratcliffe 1996;Royster 2000;Swearingen 1991Swearingen , 1995. Except for a small number of recent articles that connect comparative rhetoric with feminist historiography, there have been few dialogues between the two fields (e.g., Swearingen 2004;Wang 2009Wang , 2010Wu 2005Wu , 2010. As we conduct research across cultural and geographical boundaries, it may be important to think about ways to open up conversations about theories, methodologies, and processes between the two fields, for such a move would help us reflect on our practices, see the respective blind spots in both fields, and, more important, develop new interpretive frameworks with which to make meaning of texts by writers and rhetors like Bing Xin and Alice Walker.…”

“…For discussions of methodological issues in feminist rhetoric and historiography, see Barbara Biesecker (1992), Patricia Bizzell (1992), Karlyn Kohrs Campbell (1993Campbell ( , 2002, Xin Liu Gale (2000), Cheryl Glenn (1997Glenn ( , 2000, Wendy Hesford and Eileen Schell (2008), Susan Jarratt (2000), Roxanne Mountford (1999Mountford ( , 2003, Krista Ratcliffe (1996Ratcliffe ( , 2005, Christine Sutherland (1999), C. Jan Swearingen (1991Swearingen ( , 1995, and Hui Wu (2002Wu ( , 2005. Downloaded by [Tulane University] at 08:41 03 January 2015 4.…”

“…Thus, the (official) interpretations of gender equality during this period were largely influenced by Maoist socialist discourse as well as old and new patriarchal values. To reclaim their femininity and humanity, many post-Mao women writers often resisted being called "feminist" (Wu 2005). For this reason, in contemporary China, nüxingzhuyi (feminine-ism), another semantic translation often associated with an ideology valorizing women's femininity and emphasizing gender distinction, has been widely used and has become a term in the lexicon of Chinese feminist criticism.…”

“…Nüxingzhuyi (feminine-ism), a semantic translation of feminism, is widely used in post-Mao and contemporary academic treatises, essays, and other texts in the media. For a detailed discussion of post-Mao women's works on gender, see Hui Wu (2010).…”

Feminist Research Methodologies in Historic Rhetoric and Composition: An Overview of Scholarship from the 1970s to the Present

“…In Activist Rhetorics and American Higher Education: 1885-1937(2001, Susan Kates fills another gap in historical rhetoric by attending to the neglected voices of working-class American females. Arguing that critical pedagogical curricula have appeared in the United States since long before the influence of Paulo Freire, Kates presents the early history of what she calls activist education, which emphasizes equitable education for the marginal.…”