Analysis of Theoretical Sources

Topic: Prohibition

Key Term: Progressive rhetoric 

      “Rhetoric of the Progressive Era” outlines the framework of effective language utilized by influential orators during the Progressive Era. This language was “fueled by a moral rhetoric that was founded on faith in the common man and optimism about the possibilities for human progress, the Progressive Era introduced a new vocabulary along with its new view of society and politics” (Magee 90). For my paper, I will be looking at the rhetorical context of the Progressive Era — specifically, “Progressive rhetoric” and how language influenced and shaped the methods of the anti and pro-Prohibition groups — movements deeply embedded in the Progressive Era. Magee argues that Progressive rhetoric was defined by a reform of not simply socio-political movement, but importantly, of language expressed in a new mannerism — “robust democratic speech and public deliberation” (90). 

MLA Citation:

Magee, Malcolm. "Speaking of Progress: The Rhetoric of Reform in the Progressive Era." The          Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, vol. 3, no. 1, 2004, pp. 90-94.

Topic: The Politicization of Climate Change: the Modern Environmental Movement

  

      This source will be used historical context of global warming via research and findings from scientific members and participants involved with climate science up to 1975.  This source establishes the foundations of public interests in climate change and includes the opinions of the climate scientists on what needs to be done about this issue.  The basic idea is that this source will help the paper establish a framework on the origins of the Modern Environmental Movement regarding climate change as well as provide one of the many empirical data sources that non-government organizations use to gain support from the public for their protests in rapid industrialization.

MLA Citation: 

United States Committee for the Global Atmospheric Research Program, National Research Council.  Understanding Climatic Change: A Program for Action.  National Academy of Sciences,        Washington D.C., 1975. 

Topic: Birmingham Campaign 

       In the book Protest by James M. Jasper, he uses numerous examples of various protest movements and then defines the different terminology to discuss the breadth of protests that have and can occur. He uses a few terms that can specifically define the civil rights movement and Birmingham Campaign in particular. Jasper discusses how “political contexts are crucial to most social movements, affecting how they start up and what they do” (118). The political context for the Birmingham Campaign was the fact that black people did not have nearly as many rights as white people in the same community, including their access to education and stores for shopping. Citizenship movements, which include civil rights, “aim at gaining entry into the political system, and they usually advance when they find sympathetic elites already inside” (118). He also says, “civil rights have more to do with the state’s coercive interference in the lives of citizens” (119). This book will be useful in interpreting the structure of the Birmingham Campaign.

MLA Citation:

Jasper, James M. Protest: A Cultural Introduction to Social Movements. Malden: Polity, 2014. EBL      Reader. Wiley, 15 Oct. 2014. Web.

Precis Group Activity

1. In his 2004 essay “Environmental Melodrama” author Steven Schwarze argues the importance of melodrama and highlights the best situations to use it  in protest. Schwarze introduces the structure of melodrama in the abstract and then spaces the details and examples through the rest of the paper.  He identifies that melodrama as “overused and understudied”. Schwarze hopes to give a more detailed explanation on melodrama and it many uses in protest. Schwarze aims his argument at anyone hoping to  utilize melodrama in a protest as well as general protesters.

Stokely Carmichael

1. He talks about how 250,000 people showed up for the "I Have a Dream" speech and the support that other historical leaders showed for it. He provides a list of other major contributors to the movement without delving in too far into their own rhetoric. It serves to outline the exact range of dates in the movement that are being observed.

2. He writes that he identified a fundamental cause of the evolutionary struggle within the social movement. He goes on to say that dissatisfaction found within the movement from newer generations who grow impatient are a major cause in the evolution of rhetorical movements. e.g how Stokely Carmichael took a more aggressive stand and assertive rhetoric out of his dissatisfaction of the lack of results gained through a more gradual, peaceful rhetoric.