When Kairos Compels Composition: Women’s Response to the 1924 Burpee Seed Company® Contest, “What Burpee Seeds Have Done for Me”

Rhetoric Review Oct 2019

When Kairos Compels Composition: Women’s Response to the 1924 Burpee Seed Company® Contest, “What Burpee Seeds Have Done for Me”

Cheryl Price-Mckell Arizona State University

Abstract

In 1924, the W. Atlee Burpee & Company® announced a contest calling for letters responding to the prompt, “What Burpee’s Seeds Have Done for Me.” By the deadline, Burpee had received thousands of letters, many written by women. Significant elements of this early twentieth-century contest influenced women’s response. These elements—the historical context, the call for letters, and the act of gardening—converged in a kairotic fashion to form a rhetorical opportunity particularly accessible for women. The contest allowed women to apply familiar rhetorical acts in risky and self-promoting ways to validate their work and publicly identify as successful gardeners.

Journal: Rhetoric Review
Published: 2019-10-02
DOI: 10.1080/07350198.2019.1655303
Open Access: Closed
Topics: argument

Citation Context

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