Rhetoric Review Jul 2018

The Stolen Property of Whiteness: A Case Study in Critical Intersectional Rhetorics of Race and Disability

Michelle Kelsey Kearl Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne

Abstract

This essay examines intersectional discourses of race and disability as they emerge in a 2014 wrongful birth lawsuit. Jennifer Cramblett filed the lawsuit after she discovered she was given sperm from the wrong donor resulting in the birth of her biracial daughter. The filing provides an opportunity to understand how rhetorics of identity are intersectional; in this case, how a legal filing for disability structures public arguments about race. Taking a critical intersectional rhetorical perspective, this essay analyzes the case and resultant public discourse to demonstrate how Cramblett enacts a mourning of her whiteness structured by already circulating disability rhetorics.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2018-07-03
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2018.1463502
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Topics
rhetorical criticism discourse analysis qualitative research disability studies public rhetoric
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