Rhetoric Society Quarterly Mar 2018

A Tightrope of Perfection: The Rhetoric and Risk of Black Women’s Intellectualism on Display in Television and Social Media

Tamika L. Carey University at Albany, State University of New York

Abstract

Although models for recovering and theorizing black women’s discourse have focused on examples of communicative eloquence, competence, verbal prowess, and depictions of strategy, these frameworks do not completely account for the racialized threats of violence black women sometimes incur as consequences for their participation in public dialogues. To understand how risk and penalty are activated against black women intellectuals on television and social media, this essay analyzes the controversy and subsequent social media backlash Wake Forest University professor and former MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry experienced in late 2013 after off-hand remarks about former presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s African American grandchild. When read as the consequence of feminist literacy practices and signifying enacted within a hostile surveillance culture, Harris-Perry’s experience reveals an adverse rhetorical condition that penalizes and silences contemporary black women speakers and intellectuals.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2018-03-15
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2017.1392037
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism discourse analysis african american rhetorics social media literacy studies race and writing gender and writing community literacy
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. LeMesurier (2024)
    White Tears
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Wieser-Weryackwe et al. (2023)
    Cultural Rhetorics Stories and Counterstories: Constellating in Difficult Times
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Carey (2020)
    Necessary Adjustments: Black Women’s Rhetorical Impatience
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Larson (2019)
    “Just let this sink in”: FeministMegethosand the Role of Lists in #MeToo
    Rhetoric Review

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CrossRef global citation count: 8 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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