American Women Activists and Autobiography examines the feminist rhetorics that emerge in six very different activists' autobiographies, as they simultaneously tell the stories of unconventional women's lives and manifest the authors' arguments for social and political change, as well as provide blueprints for creating tectonic shifts in American society.
Exploring self-narratives by six diverse women at the forefront of radical social change since 1900-Jane Addams, Emma Goldman, Dorothy Day, Angela Davis, Mary Crow Dog, and Betty Friedan-the author offers a breadth of perspectives to current dialogues on motherhood, essentialism, race, class, and feminism, and highlights the shifts in situated feminist rhetorics through the course of the last one hundred years.
This book is a timely instructional resource for all scholars and graduate students in rhetorical studies, composition, American literature, women's studies, feminist rhetorics, and social justice.
Exploring self-narratives by six diverse women at the forefront of radical social change since 1900-Jane Addams, Emma Goldman, Dorothy Day, Angela Davis, Mary Crow Dog, and Betty Friedan-the author offers a breadth of perspectives to current dialogues on motherhood, essentialism, race, class, and feminism, and highlights the shifts in situated feminist rhetorics through the course of the last one hundred years.
This book is a timely instructional resource for all scholars and graduate students in rhetorical studies, composition, American literature, women's studies, feminist rhetorics, and social justice.
'Heather Ostman approaches the autobiographical projects of Jane Addams, Emma Goldman, Dorothy Day, Angela Davis, Mary Crow Dog, and Betty Friedan by looking at what they shared and what they did not, especially regarding the authors' feminist rhetorics and the various ways their lives and social justice causes were entangled. This premise is particularly exciting for scholars interested in the relationship between life writing and social justice. Ostman's volume can be read as an evolution of themes (womanhood, sisterhood,
motherhood, marriage, class, race, gendered body, conversion) threaded along each chapter.'
- Ana Belén Martínez García, Associate Professor of English at the University of Navarra
motherhood, marriage, class, race, gendered body, conversion) threaded along each chapter.'
- Ana Belén Martínez García, Associate Professor of English at the University of Navarra