On the margins of rhetoric: Audre Lorde transforming silence into language and action

Journal/Book: Quart J Speech. 1997; 83: 5105 Backlick Rd, Annandale, VA 22003. Speech Communication Assn. 49-70.

Abstract: Audre Lorde's speech, ''The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action, ''sheds light on the margins of rhetoric in the sense of the public speech because she examines factors that may cause some people to remain silent while enabling others to speak and act. ''Margins'' refers both to the parameters employed for defining a practice and the relative place or value of varied activities exemplifying the practice. Lorde interweaves her commentary on the silence surrounding breast cancer with insights about silence drawn from her experiences cis a member of several subordinated communities, especially as they relate to the misuse of power to silence those who are different. Her speech comments on silencing and power, sexism, verbal abuse, violence and sexualized aggression, shame, the taboo, and hostile social environments. Paradoxically, Lorde's speech is as much about the Possibilities of rhetoric as its limits.

Note: Article Olson LC, Univ Pittsburgh, Dept Commun, Pittsburgh,PA 15260 USA

Keyword(s): Audre Lorde; cancer; feminist rhetoric; human rights rhetoric; silence

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