Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
Communication and Storytelling Studies
Date of Award
12-2022
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Amber Kinser
Committee Members
Delanna Reed, Andrew Herrmann, Daryl Carter
Abstract
This multiphasic study explored the narratives of five first-time Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrating during the historic confluence of conflicts in 2020 America. After positioning the liminal 2020 circumstances within an antiracist research lens, the author analyzed, first through grounded theory and then secondarily through poetic inquiry, how these five participants described their protest experiences. The grounded theory phase yielded an overarching theory that first-time protestors experienced a dual process of unsuturing and of calling-out, with three subthemes categorized within each of these two processes. The author moved into analysis with the poetic inquiry phase, crafting poems guided by six subthemes of empathy, silence, permission-seeking, identity, story uncertainty, and direct action, and yielding six total poems produced from participant words. The author concluded that poetic inquiry has promise as a tool toward a functioning antiracist identity, while advising on reflexive antiracist future directions for such work.
Document Type
Thesis - embargo
Recommended Citation
Katt, Emily, "A Frayed Edge: A Qualitative and Poetic Inquiry Analysis of White Antiracist Protest in 2020" (2022). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4150. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4150
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
Included in
Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Other Communication Commons, Poetry Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Social Justice Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons