{"id":23259,"date":"2011-05-21T02:31:17","date_gmt":"2011-05-21T02:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=23259"},"modified":"2012-05-21T17:24:10","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T17:24:10","slug":"impurely-raced-purely-erased-toward-a-rhetorical-theory-of-biracial-passing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=23259","title":{"rendered":"Impurely Raced \/\/ Purely Erased: Toward a Rhetorical Theory of (Bi)Racial Passing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Impurely Raced \/\/ Purely Erased: Toward a Rhetorical Theory of (Bi)Racial Passing<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

University of Southern California
\nMay 2009
\n348 pages<\/p>\n

Marcia Alesan Dawkins<\/a><\/strong>, Visiting Scholar
\nBrown University<\/em><\/p>\n

Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (COMMUNICATION)<\/em><\/p>\n

This dissertation develops a theory about the interrelations between mixed race identification and passing<\/a> as they pertain to the field of rhetoric and to United States slavery and segregation settings. I introduce the concept of (bi)racial passing to argue that passing is a form of rhetoric that identifies and represents passers intersectionally via synecdoche<\/a>. In Chapter One I introduce the rhetorical, cultural, and conceptual significances of passing based on a review of the literature. I introduce the central argument of the project by proposing a theory of (bi)racial passing that considers the problems and possibilities of mixed race representation and mobility as a bridge between Platonic episteme<\/em><\/a> and Sophistic doxa<\/em><\/a> as well as between the material and symbolic components of biracial categorization. Chapter Two considers the historical narrative of Ellen Craft<\/a> at the intersection of synecdoche and irony to highlight and transgress real and imagined borders that stretch beyond a simple consideration of race. Taking up the issue of appropriation through a detailed critique of the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson<\/a><\/em>, my third chapter considers passing as an antecedent form of identity theft and as a form of resistance. In contrast to the cases examined in these chapters, my fourth chapter explores Harper’s<\/a> Iola Leroy<\/a><\/em>, as a fictional account of passing that ties synecdoche to eloquence, articulating the tension between the threat of passing contained in the Plessy<\/em> ruling and its relation to contemporary attempts at measuring discrimination at the intersection of race, class, and gender.<\/p>\n

My fifth chapter takes a turn by exploring the literary and cinematic versions of The Human Stain<\/a><\/em>, as contemporary narratives of passing based on tragedy and synecdoche in the context of minstrel performance and Jim and Jane Crow<\/a> segregation. My last chapter fleshes out the theory introduced in the first, working toward a theory of (bi)racial passing that rethinks inadequate dichotomies of episteme<\/em> vs. doxa<\/em> as well as white vs. black. Then, blending the critical race theory of intersectionality with rhetorical personae I explain the significances of synecdoche, metonymy<\/a>, irony, appropriation, eloquence<\/a>, and tragedy in the various instances of passing explored. At a theoretical level, I rethink the inadequate dichotomies of episteme<\/em> vs. doxa<\/em> as well as white vs. black. I conclude with a rhetorical theory of passing based on the fourth persona and six original passwords<\/em> that present opportunities for future research.<\/p>\n

TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n