Ethics and Representation in Feminist Rhetorical Inquiry

Abstract

The historiography of feminist rhetorical research raises ethical questions about whose stories are told and how. Women and other marginalized people have been excluded historically from many formal institutions, and researchers in this field often turn to alternative archives to explore how women have used writing and rhetoric to participate in civic life, share their lived experiences, and effect change. Such methods may lead to innovation in documenting practices that took place in local, grassroots settings. The chapters in this volume present a frank conversation about the ways in which feminist scholars engage in the work of recovering hidden rhetorics, and grapple with the ethical challenges raised by this recovery work. Ethics and Representation in Feminist Rhetorical Inquiry is a timely and important contribution to scholarship in feminist rhetorical studies. Exploring questions of truth, ethics, and representation in historical and archival research, contributors offer thoughtful and contextualized analyses of what it means to study the communicative practices of women and marginalized people across time, space, language, and culture. Amy E. Dayton is associate professor of English and director of the writing center at the University of Alabama, where she teaches advanced composition and graduate seminars in composition-rhetoric and literacy studies.