A Rhetoric of True Believers: The Art of Whistleblowing

This dissertation project draws from major and minor conversations in rhetorical theory to investigate how the subject of whistleblowing offers rhetorical studies the means to advance the field in ways that are timely and necessary. The singular condition of US military and intelligence whistleblowe...

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Main Author: Chu, Alan
Other Authors: McAllister, Kenneth S.
Language:en_US
Published: The University of Arizona. 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10150/626698
http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/626698
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spelling ndltd-arizona.edu-oai-arizona.openrepository.com-10150-6266982018-02-23T03:00:33Z A Rhetoric of True Believers: The Art of Whistleblowing Chu, Alan Chu, Alan McAllister, Kenneth S. McAllister, Kenneth S. Abraham, Matthew Miller, Thomas P. Whistleblower Whistleblowing This dissertation project draws from major and minor conversations in rhetorical theory to investigate how the subject of whistleblowing offers rhetorical studies the means to advance the field in ways that are timely and necessary. The singular condition of US military and intelligence whistleblowers as a specially marginalized group, yet one with considerable skills and resources, potentially reorganizes how rhetoricians traditionally regard marginalized groups. In addition, the sophistication, inventiveness, and technical skill of individuals who are in incredibly disadvantageous positions forces us to revise our relationship with significant ongoing conversations in the field, from the way that rhetoric determines what is true or probable to the role of rhetoric in liberal democracies. As my project argues, whistleblowers also give us substantial reasons to revisit the major and minor terms in the discipline, such as ethos, parrhēsia, epideictic, and kairos, among others. Yet, for a subject with such inherent dialectical wealth, there is an absence of any sustained examination in the field of rhetoric, which is puzzling given the historical and concurrent rhetorical study regarding civic discourse in democratic assemblies as well as the ongoing focus on the domains of agency, authority, and positionality. This project concludes by explicating how whistleblowing in US military and intelligence contexts is not simply a check on unconstitutional acts or a correction of waste, fraud, and abuse but rather a process that preserves the very same principles that enable rhetoric to flourish. 2017 text Electronic Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/10150/626698 http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/626698 en_US Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. The University of Arizona.
collection NDLTD
language en_US
sources NDLTD
topic Whistleblower
Whistleblowing
spellingShingle Whistleblower
Whistleblowing
Chu, Alan
Chu, Alan
A Rhetoric of True Believers: The Art of Whistleblowing
description This dissertation project draws from major and minor conversations in rhetorical theory to investigate how the subject of whistleblowing offers rhetorical studies the means to advance the field in ways that are timely and necessary. The singular condition of US military and intelligence whistleblowers as a specially marginalized group, yet one with considerable skills and resources, potentially reorganizes how rhetoricians traditionally regard marginalized groups. In addition, the sophistication, inventiveness, and technical skill of individuals who are in incredibly disadvantageous positions forces us to revise our relationship with significant ongoing conversations in the field, from the way that rhetoric determines what is true or probable to the role of rhetoric in liberal democracies. As my project argues, whistleblowers also give us substantial reasons to revisit the major and minor terms in the discipline, such as ethos, parrhēsia, epideictic, and kairos, among others. Yet, for a subject with such inherent dialectical wealth, there is an absence of any sustained examination in the field of rhetoric, which is puzzling given the historical and concurrent rhetorical study regarding civic discourse in democratic assemblies as well as the ongoing focus on the domains of agency, authority, and positionality. This project concludes by explicating how whistleblowing in US military and intelligence contexts is not simply a check on unconstitutional acts or a correction of waste, fraud, and abuse but rather a process that preserves the very same principles that enable rhetoric to flourish.
author2 McAllister, Kenneth S.
author_facet McAllister, Kenneth S.
Chu, Alan
Chu, Alan
author Chu, Alan
Chu, Alan
author_sort Chu, Alan
title A Rhetoric of True Believers: The Art of Whistleblowing
title_short A Rhetoric of True Believers: The Art of Whistleblowing
title_full A Rhetoric of True Believers: The Art of Whistleblowing
title_fullStr A Rhetoric of True Believers: The Art of Whistleblowing
title_full_unstemmed A Rhetoric of True Believers: The Art of Whistleblowing
title_sort rhetoric of true believers: the art of whistleblowing
publisher The University of Arizona.
publishDate 2017
url http://hdl.handle.net/10150/626698
http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/626698
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