Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Marin, Noemi

Abstract

President Bush's 2001 speech on stem cell research showed unusual intermixing of rhetorical bits from past arguments of proponents and opponents, suggesting that such mixing is a distinct rhetorical strategy. Analyses revealed two communities that had engaged each other over reproductive biology issues for decades, developing distinct vocabularies and argumentative patterns in that interaction. The speech mixed fragments ofthese usages. Traditional textual analyses and analyses ofthe mixing itself showed that the mixing seems to reinforce traditional approaches to divided audiences by opening up many possibilities for the communities to draw different meanings from what is said. Analyses of responses to the speech showed such split understandings, and followup analyses to 2007 suggest that the speech helped freeze the character of the debate in the form Bush gave it. Mixing is a viable rhetorical strategy to help manage intractable issues with deeply divided audiences.

Extent

160 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2007.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FA00000902

Format

pdf

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