| Abstract | The gaps this dissertation fills are two-fold. First, I recover an important but overlooked female rhetorician from the interwar period, Hallie Flanagan Davis. Flanagan Davis was the national director of the American Federal Theatre Project (1935-1939), a project referred to as one of the most important things that ever happened in a democratic government (Orson Welles), but I would add that she was also an insightful cultural critic and rhetorical activist. She wrote several books and many articles and speeches, but declined to ever write down her ideal visions or theories about how theater could improve democracy, explaining the urge as tempting but that her focus was, instead, on capturing the stories of her work and the lessons gleaned from those stories (Letter to Malcolm Cowley). Through extensive archival research, grounded theory methodology, and the help of a modern rhetorical lens, I analyze Flanagan Daviss arguments and practices, and work to cultivate them into rhetorical theory that can be applied today. This cultivated rhetorical theory--which I refer to as Democratic Cultural-Rhetorical Infrastructure (DCRI) theory--fills a second gap by providing insight into how to democratize the production and analysis of culture, and encourage dialogue and appreciation across groups who understand themselves to be different: prominent concerns for public sphere rhetoricians and critical literacy pedagogues (Long, Parks, Sheridan, Warner). I argue that DCRI theory is increasingly relevant and applicable today, as theatrical expressions are easier to circulate than ever before (through our many media-sharing platforms), and cultural divisiveness, at least in America in the year 2018, seems to be higher than ever. |
