Abstract
This edited collection aims to investigate feminist rhetorical research methods in both contemporary and historical contexts. Following a foreword by Kate Ronald and an introduction by Eileen E Schell, the book is subdivided into three further sections. Ronald reminds us that the historical image of Rhetorica is as a queen wearing a crown and jewelled breastplates and bearing a sword. She adds that this collection, which is concerned with exploring methods, methodologies and epistemologies, ‘takes Rhetorica one step forward from her static historical representation and moves her into new spaces with new tools’ (p. ix). Adding to this, Schell notes that the book’s editors and contributors aim not only to ‘continue to map the terrain of well-defined areas of feminist inquiry such as archival research, literary research, and online research’ but ‘also to bring to the fore work in interdisciplinary areas of inquiry such as disability studies, gerontology/aging studies, Latina/o studies, queer and transgender studies, and transnational feminisms’ (p. 3). Additional goals of the book are to highlight how feminist researchers develop, question and modify their approaches throughout their careers within and across projects and studies and to reflect on issues of involvements, attachment, ethics and social responsibility within the research process. Thus, the concern is with ‘feminist methods and methodologies as movement, as motion and as action’ (p. 6), which makes clear the reference to motion in the title.
The first main section of the book ‘Theoretical and Methodological Challenges’ contains four chapters. In the first chapter – ‘Refiguring Rhetorica: Linking Feminist Rhetoric and Disability Studies’ – the focus is on the parallels between feminism and disability studies, wherein feminists have challenged the simplistic and essentialist category ‘woman’ just as those who work in the area of disability studies have challenged the category ‘disabled’. Jay Dolmage and Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson argue for further collaborative work in this area. ‘Queering Feminist Rhetorica Canonization’ is written by KJ Rawson who applies a transgender critique to challenge the male/female binary and argues for the multiple, shifting meanings of gender. In Chapter 2 – ‘Cosmopolitanism and the Geopolitics of Feminist Rhetoric’ – Wendy S Hesford calls for a transnational feminist analysis to challenge the Western bias in feminism. Finally, in this section, Ilene Whitney Crawford’s chapter ‘Growing Routes; Rhetoric as the Study and Practice of Movement’ puts Hesford’s request into practice through an alternative analysis of Vietnam and Vietnamese women.
The second main section of the book is entitled ‘Reflective Applications’ and contains four chapters each giving examples of applied feminist rhetorical methods. In ‘Making Pathways: Inventing Textual Research Methods in Feminist Rhetorical Studies’, Kathleen J Ryan focuses on ‘situated knowledge making’; the relationship between theory and the self. ‘Rhetorics of Possibility: Challenging Textual Bias through the Theory of the Flesh’ is written by Bernadette M Calafell who describes her own research work as an embodied experience, thus highlighting the significance of researcher identity within research. In ‘Mining the Collective Unconscious’, Francis J Ranney (with responses from Ruth Ray and Gwen Gorzelsky) suggests a way of reading archival materials that analyse how cultural constructions affect what we understand as the beliefs and feelings of individuals. Next, Joanne Addison in ‘Researching Literacy as Lived Experience’ explores the feminist practice of ‘strong objectivity’ and argues that the gathering of various perspectives enables us to reach rich, although not conclusive, conclusions. Finally, in this section, Heidi McKee and James Porter in ‘Rhetorica Online: Feminist Research Practices in Cyberspace’ consider issues of ethics through the examination of the work of researchers who study interactions in online groups. They outline what they see as the key characteristics of ethical feminist research that includes careful and respectful treatment of and a commitment to improvement of the circumstances for respondents, the critically reflexive use of research method and transparent representation of methods and methodology.
The final section of the book – ‘Pedagogical Postscript’ – contains just one chapter ‘Writing as Feminist Rhetorical Theory’ written by Laura R Micciche and provides an exploration of how feminist rhetorical methods and methodologies might influence the teaching of writing. Micciche suggests that the concept of play can inform feminist writing. The chapter includes sample assignments for the feminist classroom.
The editors have been successful in pulling together an interesting selection of writings on putting feminist research into practice and the book is a valuable collection of readings for anyone undertaking (feminist) research. What I remain less convinced about is the Rhetorica metaphor. As Eileen Schnell notes: ‘As feminist researchers we are often in motion between our various standpoints and positions, between our disciplinary locations in the academy, and between the specific texts, contexts, places, spaces, communities and institutions we engage’. I agree with this, but I cannot quite see why we need feminist rhetorical studies ‘to debate and revise previously held motions of feminisms and rhetorics, introduce new subjects of research, new sites of inquiry and engage methods, methodologies and pedagogies in a variety of ways’ (pp. 6–7). Is not all feminist research and theory characterised by motion, and movement, by challenge and change? That said this book would make a very good addition to any feminist research library.