Abstract

In calling for more attention to the theorizing and historicizing of rhetorical praxis, this essay breaks new ground by tracing the history of needlework sampler-making: first, to bring into relief the rhetorical force of diverse material practices that create text and, second, to push at the boundaries of what counts as rhetorical practice and who counts in its production. This history demonstrates how discursive practices can be displaced, transformed, and then erased as they emerge in new rhetorical constellations. It ends with a consideration of two levels of questions: those concerning the theorizing and historicizing of rhetorical practices and those concerning the methodological limits and possibilities of this kind of scholarship.