University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Graduate School Professional Papers 2016 Knowledge and Resistance: Feminine Style and Signifyin[g] in Michelle Obama’s Public Address Tracy Valgento University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Politics Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, and the Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Valgento, Tracy, "Knowledge and Resistance: Feminine Style and Signifyin[g] in Michelle Obama’s Public Address" (2016). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers.edu/etd/10692 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana.
For more information, please contact scholarworks@mso. KNOWLEDGE AND RESISTANCE: FEMININE STYLE AND SIGNIFYIN[G] IN MICHELLE OBAMA’S PUBLIC ADDRESS By TRACY MARIE VALGENTO Bachelor of Science, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 2013 Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication Studies The University of Montana Missoula, MT May 14, 2016 Approved by: Scott Whittenburg, Dean of The Graduate School Graduate School Dr. Sara Hayden, Co-Chair Communication Studies Dr. Joel Iverson Co-Chair Department Committee Member Anya Jabour History i Knowledge and Resistance © COPYRIGHT by Tracy Marie Valgento 2016 All Rights Reserved ii Knowledge and Resistance Valgento, Tracy, M.A, June 13, 2016 Communication Studies Abstract: Co-Chairperson: Dr.
Sara Hayden Co-Chairperson: Dr. Joel Iverson This thesis examines the public discoure of the first African American first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. I argue that Michelle Obama uses the double-voiced discourses of feminie style and African American Signifyin[g] to negagte post-race and post-gender mythologies that suggest that American socitey is “beyond idenity”. Looking at three of Obama’s speeches: Michelle Obama's Convention 2008 Democratic National Convention Speech, The Remarks by the First Lady at Memorial Service for Dr.
Maya Angelou, and Remarks by the First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement Address this thesis argues that Michelle Obama performativity interrogates and questions gender and race relations in the United States. iii Chapter One: Introduction Women of color live in the dualistic and intersecting oppressions of race and gender. Patricia Hill Collins (2002) defines oppression as, “any unjust situation where, systematically and over a long period of time, one group denies another group access to the resources of society (P. Race, class, gender, sexuality, nation, age, and ethnicity among other facets of ones’ social location all constitute forms of oppression in the United States; “However, the convergence of race, class, and gender oppression characteristic of U.
slavery shaped all subsequent relationships that women of African descent had within Black American families and communities, with employers, and among one another” (P. Such marginalization underwrites the discursive performances of women of color in the United States (Reid-Brinkley, 2012). Women of color who attempt to rewrite these narratives of oppression are subject to the racism that undermines feminism and the masculinity that is entwined in politics (P. Subsequently, women of color must use tactical and strategic rhetoric in order to challenge White-patriarchy and gain a salient voice in the public sphere.
In contrast, First Ladies of the United States traditionally represent White, middle- to- upper-class, heterosexual versions of American femininity, particularly through their discursive practices (Anderson, 2004). However, following the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, Michelle Obama became the first African-American First lady of the United States. Michelle Obama’s subject position and public discourse opens the White House to “communities of color and ordinary citizens” (Cooper, 2014, p. Michelle Obama’s position as first lady and as a Black woman forces a reconceptualization of ideal American womanhood as inclusive of marginalized subject positions (Cooper).
1 Knowledge and Resistance First ladies of the United States occupy a unique rhetorical position because they are representatives of power, but only due to their marital status; they do not actually make political decisions (Parry-Giles & Blair, 2002). This quasi-political status means that first ladies experience extreme scrutiny; subsequently, their political advocacies and public performances play into conceptions of American womanhood. The first lady of the United States rhetorically symbolizes and acts as a representative of the nation (Campbell, 1996). Subsequently, Karrin Vasby Anderson (2004) argues that discourses about first ladies “function to culturally shape notions of femininity and so both foster and constrain women’s agency” (Anderson, 2004).
Examinations of the first lady’s public discourse are both rhetorical and gendered because of her symbolic influence. Michelle Obama’s rhetorical performance is important to study because it reconstitutes Black femininity in ways that both expand and constrain the agency of women of color in the United States. Michelle Obama rhetorically reconstructs the role of American first lady through her use of feminine and African American dialectic traits and her frankness about issues of race and gender inequity in the United States. I contend that Michelle Obama’s rhetorical performance juxtaposes feminine style and Signification, which I will discuss later, as resistive tools to address the simultaneous competing demands of marginality and power as a first lady of color.
I first offer contextual information and biographical information about Michelle Obama. I then detail the academic work concerning Mrs. Obama in communication studies and review literature defining and applying feminine style and Signification. Then I turn to an overview of my prospective artifacts and I will conclude with a precís of chapters.
2 Knowledge and Resistance Context and Background Michelle Obama First lady Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is an Ivy League educated lawyer, philanthropist, and devoted wife and mother; “she has become a role model for women and an advocate for poverty awareness, higher education, and healthy living” (whitehouse. Throughout her up bringing, early career, and role as first lady, Michelle Obama has navigated the interacting oppressions faced by women of color all over the world. Michelle Obama was raised in a working-class, African American neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago (whitehouse. She attended public school before attending Princeton University, as a first generation college student, where she pursued an undergraduate degree in sociology and African American studies (L.
Both growing up in a Black community and her collegiate pursuits of African American studies situate Michelle Obama in African American linguistic and rhetorical traditions. For example, Michelle Obama’s senior thesis, which was widely scrutinized during the 2008 presidential campaign, focused on “the ways in which attending Princeton affected Black alumni’s sense of connection to the Black community” (L. In her thesis, Obama discussed the lack of support for Black, first generation students attending Ivy League universities (L. Michelle Obama’s reflection on race in White spaces suggests, not only her remarkable intelligence, but also the critical perspective she brings to intersectional and often conflicting social positions she currently faces as first lady.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, Obama went on to study law at Harvard University. Obama graduated law school in 1988 and joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she met her future husband Barack Obama. As a lawyer, Michelle Obama was invested in 3 Knowledge and Resistance community issues. She served as assistant commissioner of planning and development in Chicago’s City Hall (whitehouse.
Then she helped found the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, a public service AmeriCorps program (whitehouse. Eventually, in 1996, Mrs. Obama served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago and then as Vice President of Community and External Affairs for the University of Chicago Medical Center (whitehouse. Michelle Obama’s commitment to community issues and skillful participation in the public sphere is reflected in the “stump” speech she wrote and delivered on the her 2008 presidential campaign trail to an African American church congregation in South Carolina (L.
A New Yorker article entitled “The Other Obama” discusses Obama’s address and notes: [Michelle] Obama has been open about the value of her ability to speak to black audiences in cadences that reflect their experience, but she makes clear her distaste for the notion that she is a niche tool, wielded by her husband’s campaign to woo black voters solely on the basis of their shared racial identity (L. Obama’s rhetorical skill uses feminine style and Signification predicated on shared experience when communicating with Black audiences amidst White rhetorical spaces. Academic Work on Michelle Obama Communication scholars who study Michelle Obama agree she inspires renewed meaning of Black womanhood in the United States (Spillers, 2009; Kahl, 2009; King, 2010; Bertaki, 2012). For example, some scholars look at Michelle Obama’s declaration to be Mom-in-Chief (Cooper, 2014) and the first lady’s Let’s Move campaign (Quinlan, Bates, & Webb, 2012) as exemplifying empowered Black motherhood.
These scholars identify the challenges Michelle 4 Knowledge and Resistance Obama faces as the first African American first lady, such as her necessary navigation of race and gender stereotypes and performances. Some scholarship refers to the mitigating tactics Michelle Obama and her critics use when tackling issues of race and gender. Individuals who speak from positions of difference develop alternative rhetorical patterns as a product of their marginalization and employ tactical rhetorical strategies to moderate their positions of difference. For example, the discourse by and about Michelle Obama utilizes narratives of class as a substitute for race and gender.
Joan Faber McAlister (2009) analyzes criticism of Michelle Obama that utilizes “color-blindness,” or in other words, potentially unintended, racist criticism couched through terms that, at a glance, appear banal. For example criticism of Obama’s bringing items from everyday brands like Target and J. Crew into the White House maintain classist attitudes to supplement and disguise racist appraisal. Critics, such as conservative radio pundits, speak ill of Michelle Obama by carefully coding their language to be about anything but race, even though such critiques are ideologically underwritten by systemic racism that link poverty to Blackness.
McAllister discusses the way the media treats Obama’s body; some critics suggest that Michelle Obama’s athletic frame violates the “typical American First lady”. In other words, she does not ascetically perform Whiteness. These critiques are gendered, but that they are also classed because they reflect “anxiety over the sight of muscular arms (fit for menial labor, but unfit for display in polite company) on the figure of the First lady” (McAllister, 2009, p. McAllister goes on to say that “the role that racist logics play in appraising the first African American woman to serve as First lady is negated and replaced by unabashedly classist standards (McAllister, 2009, p.
McAllister argues that these acts of “post-racism” perpetuate narratives of White privilege. 5 Knowledge and Resistance However, Michelle Obama has been resistive to these practices. Joseph (2011) observes Michelle Obama’s tactical and epistemological response to sexist and racist media comments. Joseph argues, that “post-identity,” or the mythology that issues of race and gender oppression are no longer socio-systemic problems in the United States, creates a metaphorical straightjacket for those of difference (whether it be race, gender, class, sexuality, ability or otherwise) to speak out against their oppression.
Joseph’s analysis highlights how Michelle Obama responds to the myth of post-identity by strategically choosing when she appeals to issues of class opposed to when she appeals to race/gender. Joseph says, “In the midst of a climate in which frank discussions of difference are verboten, hypervisible Obama must couch her words as she carefully fights her verbal attacks” (p. For example, Obama often refers to herself as a “girl who grew up on the South Side of Chicago,” which utilizes the tropes of postrace; “Obama speaks of her Blackness through the code ‘the South Side of Chicago,’ which…is meant to connote both Black and working class” (Joseph, p. Michelle Obama creates a counter narrative to regain control of the image of Black womanhood through alternative ideological codes, i.e race and class.