1. Introducing Feminist Rhetorical Scholarship
2. Introduction to Cheris Kramarae
Proprietors of Language / Women as a Muted Group / A Visiting Scholar / Do We Really Want More Control of Technology? / Feminist Theories of Communication
3. Introduction to bell hooks
Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression / Feminist Politicization: A Comment / Back to the Avant-Garde: The Progressive Vision / Design: A Happening Life
4. Introduction to Gloria Anzaldua
Speaking in Tongues: A Letter to 3rd World Women Writers / La conciencia de la mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness / Del otro lado / Beyond Traditional Notions of Identity
5. Introduction to Mary Daly
A Call for the Castration of Sexist Religion / Gyn/Ecology: Spinning New Time/Space / Sin Big / Spiraling into the Nineties
6. Introduction to Starhawk
Witchcraft as Goddess Religion / Truth or Dare / Ritual as Bonding: Action as Ritual / The Spiral Dance / Roundtable Discussion: Backlash
7. Introduction to Paula Gunn Allen
All the Good Indians / Grandmother of the Sun: Ritual Gynocracy in Native America / Some Like Indians Endure / Essentially, It's Spring / Haggles
8. Introduction to Trinh T. Minh-ha
Not You/Like You: Post-Colonial Women and the Interlocking Questions of Identity and Difference / Yellow Sprouts / The Totalizing Quest of Meaning
9. Introduction to Sally Miller Gearhart
The Womanization of Rhetoric / The Gatherstretch / The Chipko / Notes from a Recovering Activist
10. Introduction to Sonia Johnson
The Bursting of the File / Who's Afraid of the Supreme Court? / Ship Ahoy / Meet My Needs, Make Me Happy / The Bears and Anarchy
Readings in Feminist Rhetorical Theory
This collection highlights the comprehensive, diverse, accessible body of work that exists on understanding symbol use from feminist perspectives. Selections from the works of nine contemporary feminist theorists allow readers to explore a variety of ways of framing experiences and events. The voices of Cheris Kramarae, bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldúa, Mary Daly, Starhawk, Paula Gunn Allen, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Sally Miller Gearhart, and Sonia Johnson challenge traditional viewpoints and encourage new ways of thinking. The selections address how social change happens, the strategies available to promote change, and the consequences of changing dominant practices and constructs. The editors worked with many of the theorists to choose representative works from different genres that exemplify the trajectory of their ideas. Brief introductions provide biographical details of the lives of the theorists and contextualize the key ideas in the works selected.