UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    RHETORICS OF RIOT: ATTICA, ARCHIVES, AND AFFECT
    (2024) Robbins, Carolyn; Woods, Carly S.; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Rhetorics of Riot: Attica, Archives, and Affect revisits the Attica prison uprising of 1971 through an abolitionist lens. Drawing on Aja Martinez’ theory of counterstory and Lisa Flores’ theory of racial rhetorical criticism, this project incorporates archival materials to curate the story of Attica from the perspectives of those who were inside the prison. Much of this curation is conducted through the medium of podcasts in order to platform the literal voices of the Attica Brothers and to reproduce facets of their affective experience. The first chapter offers a theoretical framework for the project as a whole, discussing methods and grounding the research in scholarly and activist literature and praxis. Chapter two offers the stock story of Attica as told by Attica administrators, the Grand Jury, and the New York State Police. Chapter three refigures our understanding of riots. By troubling the hegemonic version of events, it offers an abolitionist approach to riot rhetorics that honors the identity and agency of incarcerated people. Chapter four examines the hypocrisy and oppressive power of hegemonic civility discourses. It then offers an alternate view of civility and citizenship rooted in counterstories from the Attica Brothers. Chapter five concludes the project by discussing broader applications of the abolitionist reading of Attica counterstories. The podcast elements throughout the project constitute a critical public memory countersoundscape, troubling hegemonic memorialization of Attica and adding to the abolitionist efforts to tell these counterstories and speak truth to power.
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    Nothing Ladylike About It: The Theatrical Career of Anna Elizabeth Dickinson
    (2004-04-30) Stewart, Stacey A.; Schuler, Catherine A; Theatre
    In 1864, at the height of the Civil War, twenty-one year old Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932) stood in the House of Representatives, before Congress, the Cabinet, and the Supreme Court, and lambasted President Lincoln for his compassion toward the South. She was the first woman ever to speak before Congress. Her performance earned her the title "America's Joan of Arc," and she went on to become one of the nation's most famous, most popular, and most highly-paid orators. Abolitionists, suffragists, and powerful political parties sought to make her the spokesperson for their causes. When the lecture circuit dried up in the wake of the war, Dickinsonflying in the face of her Philadelphia Quaker upbringingrealized a lifelong ambition to go on the stage. Lacking both theatrical training and experience, Dickinson nevertheless wrote a play, Anne Boleyn, or, A Crown of Thorns, and attempted its title role. Although many newspapers were generous, the powerful New York critics were merciless in their condemnation of both play and player. But Dickinson continued to pursue a career in the theatre, writing a half-dozen plays and acting in severalmost notably, a controversial performance as Hamlet in 1882. Having risen to fame as a public speaker while protected by her Quaker heritage and her youth, Dickinson became a troubling figure once she appeared on a theatrical stage. I argue that Dickinson's attempt to establish herself in the theatrical world can be seen as a manifestation of a larger quest for citizenshipfor full participation in American culture and society. Through her playwriting, Dickinson both consciously re-visioned patriarchal history and challenged conventional notions of appropriate feminine behavior. As an actress, she sought to communicate original ideas about character through carefully considered interpretations. As a woman working in the theatre, she demanded satisfactory compensation and working conditions without regard to the norms of the professionnorms that did not accommodate a woman with her goals and expectations (however unrealistic). In a period when "True Women" were expected to be passive and private, Dickinson was aggressive and obstinately public. And there was nothing ladylike about it.