Defense Date
7-11-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Science
Degree Name
Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
First Advisor
Melissa Bianchi, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Mario D’Agostino, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Juliette Kitchens, Ph.D.
Keywords
TED, Cluster Criticism, Productivity, Agency, Self-Help Rhetoric, Multimedia, Critical Discourse Analysis, Ideographs
Abstract
The contemporary United States is characterized by rising standards of productivity in pursuit of success, which James Daniel suggests has caused significant physical and mental strain for many. Self-help materials, such as motivational video lectures, often exploit this discomfort to present specific ideologies as “solutions” to an audience’s anxiety, sense of insufficiency and perceived failure. This project evaluates motivational video lectures from TED to determine how their rhetoric constructs success. This project uses Burkean cluster criticism and queer influenced methodologies to illuminate an understanding of success characterized by perceived action and sustained by stigma. The project finds that the speakers represent success as eminently accessible to those “resourceful” enough to exert action towards it. This emphasis on general accessibility uses stigma to identify the activities and individuals as successful in our contemporary rhetorical ecology. These results can guide rhetorical studies scholars in challenging popular representations of success and locating more nuanced and inclusive understandings.
NSUWorks Citation
Bilal A. Amodu. 2022. The Best Self for Whom: Agency, Action, and Capacity in Ted Talk Motivational Speeches. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (91)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcas_etd_all/91.