Date of Award
5-12-2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Communication and Rhetorical Studies
Advisor(s)
Kendall Phillips
Keywords
Anti-carceral counterpublic;Attica;Prisoners’ rights movement;The Event
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities | Rhetoric and Composition
Abstract
In this thesis, I investigate how the discourse of incarcerated writers responds to the Attica Prison Uprising across time and geography in prison newspapers and poetry. I first argue that the rhetorical responses of incarcerated writers in the first six months after the uprising construct Attica as an Event, a moment characterized by intense difference where everything becomes possible. A scrutiny of the Event requires dwelling in the moment before clear meanings have been solidified, so conceptualizing Attica as an Event in the writings that are temporally and geographically close to Attica requires speculation. By the time the first-year anniversary of the uprising occurs, the meaning of Attica is intelligible and incarcerated writers are able to utilize Attica as an ideograph and prosthetic memory and thus a political tool. I look at how Attica is deployed by incarcerated writers to constitute the prisoners’ rights movement. Further, I argue that the rhetorical responses to Attica in prison newspapers in the months and years following the one-year anniversary of the uprising calls an anti-carceral counterpublic into being.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Iknayan, Emily Kathryn, "“We are men”: Constituting the Prisoners’ Rights Movement Through Prison Writing" (2024). Theses - ALL. 852.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/852
