Unchartered Waters: Discourses of Stability and Change in the Rhetoric of Michelle Obama

Session Submission Type: Panel Discussion

Abstract

This panel will analyze the rhetoric of Michelle Obama, and discuss the identity of African women of the Diaspora in U S public life. Panelists seek to expose a counter narrative to dominant notions of otherizing and marginalization projected onto African American women. Whether perceived as mammies, mistresses, tragic mulattoes, whores, tokens, elitists or phenomenal role models, African American female narratives challenge the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality, and class.

Sub Unit

• African American Communication and Culture Division

Chair

• Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, Indiana University

Presenters

• Naomi Warren, University of Southern California

• Kidogo Aisha Kennedy, Los Angeles City College

Respondent

• Dorothy Ige, Indiana University, Northwest

Session Organizer

• Katherine Karsnak, National Communication Association