Title
Staging cross-border (Reading) alliances: feminist polyvocal testimonials at work
Abstract
Practitioners of contemporary feminist testimonios are more than writers; they are textual activists who employ writing as a social tool. Corresponding with the "deliberative" strain of testimonio (Nance 2006), feminist testimonios utilize sophisticated modes of narrative address to self-consciously direct readers towards empathetic interpretations of their works for the purpose of social change. This desired effect is realized through direct address, a focused deployment of pathos (an appeal to the emotions), and polyvocal narrative frameworks. By creating a textual bridge to bring disparate cultural and material worlds into affective proximity my study argues that feminist testimonios enact a model of cross-border feminist alliance building attentive to the possibilities and challenges of forging coalitions across social differences and geopolitical locations for the purpose of social change.
Description
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. September 2012. Major: Feminist Studies. Advisors: Dr. Amy Kaminsky and Dr. Richa Nagar. 1 computer file (PDF): vi, 390 pages.
Suggested Citation
Connolly-Shaffer, Patricia K..
(2012).
Staging cross-border (Reading) alliances: feminist polyvocal testimonials at work.
Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy,
https://hdl.handle.net/11299/141437.