Rhetoric Society Quarterly Mar 2023

Histories of Radical Interactionality: Rivers, Disease, Borders, and Laundry

W. Ordeman

Abstract

The Spanish flu’s efficacy of spreading across El Paso was in part due to neoliberal governments and racially prejudiced free-market economies exploiting a natural ecosystem to marginalize a Latinx community. This study identifies the tragic consequences these actions brought about for an entire city of both marginalized and privileged. This work argues for a new paradigm of rhetorical agency that accounts for interactions between rhetorical ecologies happening over time. This work demonstrates this paradigm through government policies, newspaper articles, press releases, and ecological surveys of El Paso, Texas, beginning with the early nineteenth century through the first years of the Spanish flu (1918–20). Through the lens of rhetorical methods concerning agency distribution and radical interactionality, we see how one neighborhood played a vital role in the epidemic’s spread throughout the city.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2023-03-15
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2022.2129756
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (31) · 3 in this index

  1. Alaimo Stacy (2010)
    Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material Self
  2. “American Help Is Better.”El Paso Herald, 31 Oct. 1919, p. 3, texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth138933/?…
  3. 10.1515/9781400884537
     ↗
  4. Bennett, Jane (2010)
    Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things
  5. Bowden J. J. (1969)
    Southwestern Studies
Show all 31 →
  1. Burnett, John. “The Bath Riots: Indignity along the Mexican Border.”NPR.Org, 28 Jan. 2006, npr.org/2006/01/28…
  2. Chávez Karma R (2013)
    Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities
  3. Christian, David, and William H. McNeill.Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History. U of California P, 2011.
  4. Cooper (2011)
    Rhetorical Agency as Emergent and Enacted
    College Composition and Communication
  5. 10.1215/10407391-2008-007
     ↗
  6. Edbauer (2005)
    Unframing models of public distribution: From rhetorical situation to rhetorica…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  7. El Paso Matters and Kaiser Health News. “Why COVID-19 Killed Texas Border Residents in Shocking Numbers.”El P…
  8. “Employers Cite Difficulties for Minimum Wage in El Paso.”El Paso Herald, 20 Nov. 1919, p. 10, texashistory.u…
  9. 10.1353/sex.2004.0028
     ↗
  10. García Mario T (1981)
    Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso, 1880–1920
  11. Goodman, J. David. “As Hospitalizations Soar, El Paso Brings In New Mobile Morgues.”The New York Times, 11 No…
  12. Grabill Jeffrey T. (2018)
    Field Rhetoric: Ethnography, Ecology, and Engagement in the Places of Persuasion
  13. Hallenbeck (2012)
    Toward a Posthuman Perspective: Feminist Rhetorical Methodologies and Everyday …
    Advances in the History of Rhetoric
  14. Henry Patrick (2022)
    World Economic Forum
  15. 10.1002/9781119265771.ch20
     ↗
  16. 10.1080/14747731.2015.1057046
     ↗
  17. (1911)
    El Paso Herald
  18. Ledesma Irene
    The Western Historical Quarterly
  19. 10.2307/j.ctv29j3dft
     ↗
  20. Luckingham Bradford (1984)
    Southwestern Studies
  21. Luna Victor (2016)
    10.1016/j.ecin.2016.09.005
    Economia Informa  ↗
  22. M., G. A (1915)
    El Paso Herold
  23. Perez Maclovio (2021)
    Handbook of Texas Online
  24. Rabinowitz, Tamar. “Teaching Women’s History: The El Paso Laundry Strike of 1919.”Women at the Center, 19 Jul…
  25. Tuana Nancy (2008)
    Material Feminisms
  26. US Citizenship and Immigration Services History Office and Library. “A Journey Through Chihuahuita.”Beyond th…
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Res Rhetorica Apr 2026
    The rhetorical dimension of the justification for the absence of direct military support for Ukraine in Joe Biden’s statements ↗
    Marta Kobylska
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism editorial matter
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Mar 2026
    Canon to Code: Rhetorical Rulemaking for Generative AI Content Audits and Governance ↗
    Miriam F. Williams
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism assessment technical communication artificial intelligence
  3. Computers and Composition Mar 2026
    Wicked modes in UX: Pedagogical considerations for data détournement ↗
    Morgan Banville; Leah Heilig; Madison Jones
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism writing pedagogy multimodality artificial intelligence
  4. Computers and Composition Mar 2026
    Shifting rhetorical agency in multimodal UX composition with AI: Sharing rhetorical authority with technologies ↗
    Nupoor Ranade; Daniel L. Hocutt
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism writing pedagogy technical communication multimodality
  5. Poroi Feb 2026
    Using Stasis Theory as a Heuristic for Examining Epistemological Dilemmas in a Post-Truth Landscape ↗
    Bruce Bowles
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument