Raising the Flag: Constructing a Rhetorical Vision of an American City

• In Event: Myth and Symbol in U.S. American Culture

Abstract

This paper uses fantasy theme analysis to understand how the U.S. flag constructs a rhetorical vision of Houston. It reveals a rhetorical community that converges around layered identities with three ideologies: that a true sense of identity must be based on diversity; that resistance can create a space for nondominant cultures to co-exist; and that resistance can be dialectic rather than destructive. The flag, therefore, unites the community through the active inclusion of difference.

Author

• Anjana Mudambi, University of New Mexico