Reading the Rhetoric of Universality: The Discursive Transformation of Race in 1930s Public Discourse

Abstract

This dissertation utilizes three case studies to explore changing conceptualizations of race at a turbulent moment in rhetorical history. In particular, this dissertation traces evidence of conceptual change by analyzing the textual form and critical reception of James Truslow Adams' <italic>The Epic of America</italic>, Pearl S. Buck's <italic>The Good Earth</italic>, and Zora Neale Hurston's <italic>Mules and Men</italic>. This project argues that the discursive transformation from the ideology of scientific racism to a more egalitarian vision of universal humanity was facilitated by specific rhetorical processes, which have had ongoing, ambiguous consequences for contemporary public discourse.