Date of Award

1-1-2011

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Kate Willink, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Ann Dobyns, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Richie Niel Hao

Keywords

Fashion, Identity, Culture, Rhetorical communication, Feminism

Abstract

This thesis project will examine cultural and rhetorical communication studies to determine how these modes of analysis can be compared with interdisciplinary literature to better understand the role fashion plays within everyday performances and the shaping of identity. Criticisms by second-wave feminist scholars have focused on the fashion industry's overarching male influence; in more recent scholarship, feminist academics have often considered an affinity for fashion to be un-feminist and oppressive. I argue that fashion can instead be viewed as a tool for female agency and expressing individuality, rather than just a mode for reinforcing gendered norms. Using feminist rhetorical analysis and visual content analysis, this project examines imagery found on three popular fashion blogs to a determine how fashion is viewed by scholars, especially as a communicative tool in relation to identity, as well as how an interdisciplinary approach enriches the study of fashion and communication.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Jessica Neumann

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

138 p.

Discipline

Communication



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