Michelle Obama
First Lady, American Rhetor
Contributions by Deborah A. Brunson, Rachel Alicia Griffin, Trudy L. Hanson, Elizabeth J. Natalle, Enyonam Osei-Hwere, Jeanne M. Persuit, Jenni M. Simon, Tammy R. Vigil Edited by Elizabeth J. Natalle, Jenni Simon
Not available to order
Publication date:
27 August 2015Length of book:
180 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9781498512220
Michelle Obama: First Lady, American Rhetor is an edited anthology that explores the persona and speech-making of the country’s first African American first lady. The result of these thought-provoking essays is an interdisciplinary text that explores the First Lady from a rhetorical and cultural point of view. Authors analyze her Democratic National Convention speeches, her brand as First Lady, her communication from her latest trip to Africa, her agenda rhetoric in Let’s Move! and Reach Higher, and her coming out as a Black feminist intellectual when she spoke at Maya Angelou’s memorial service. Readers will recognize Michelle Obama as a rhetor of our times—a woman who influences America at the intersections of gender, race, and class and who is representative of what women are today.
This anthology breaks new ground in the study of American first ladies. Natalle and Simon meld feminist rhetorical theory, criticism, and cultural studies to assess the first African-American First Lady, Michelle Obama. From First-Mom-in-Chief to skilled rhetor, Obama’s advocacy for White House initiatives, political discourse and exhortations for people to serve their communities receive thoughtful treatment and evaluation in this original, creative volume.