Kent A. Ono

The Critique of Vernacular Discourse

Critical rhetoricians should, by criticizing vernacular discourse, follow the path of those who have discussed the rhetoric of the oppressed. The critique of powerful discourse has broad “historical” impact and therefore has been the primary mode of critique within rhetorical criticism. In addition to the critique of widely disseminated texts, critics should examine texts that profoundly influence vernacular communities and communitas. We conceptualize how a study of vernacular discourse could be carried out by defining vernacular, describing the critique of vernacular discourse, explaining the purpose of such criticism, and illustrating our approach through a brief study of one example of vernacular discourse: World War II representations of women in the Pacific Citizen, a Japanese American newspaper.

Shifting borders : rhetoric, immigration, and California's Proposition 187

Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. The Proliferation of Enemies to the National Body 3. Pro-187 California Nativism in the Los Angeles Times 4. Opposition and Complicity in the Los Angeles Times 5. Complicity and Resistance in Vernacular Discourse 6. Outlaw Vernacular Discourse: Thinking Otherwise 7. Conclusion Appendix: Excerpts from the Proposition 187 Ballot Notes References Index

Commitment to telos—a sustained critical rhetoric

Our paper attempts to illustrate how a commitment toward telos enhances the critical process. We argue that self‐critical and “skeptical” scholarship is not an end in itself. Such work does not demonstrate, sufficiently, the contingent nature of criticism and its relationship to the society in which the critic is a member. Self‐reflective criticism isolates the critic and fates her to reproducing a lonely account of what culture is and how it functions. We call for an orientation toward criticism that acknowledges the contingent nature of meaning formation. Critics have a stake in the critical act itself and therefore should describe their purpose through telos. Telos is not teleological or Utopian; rather, telos is the continuous, ever changing purpose, as ephemeral and enduring as putting pen to paper, of the critic and society. It is the temporary fixing of meaning that admits the political nature of criticism, hence its need to affect change. We offer three examples of what a commitment toward telos w...

What Is This “Post-” in Postracial, Postfeminist… (Fill in the Blank)?

The events of the 2008 election continue to spark prognostications that we live in a world that is postracial/feminist, and so on. At the 2009 NCA (National Communication Association) convention, a panel of communication scholars discussed how to approach questions of identity and communication over the next 5 years. Participants suggested ways to be critical of assertions of “post” and elaborated ways to encounter new dimensions of identification in an era of immense sociopolitical challenges. This forum revisits the exchanged dialogues among the participants at the roundtable and further explores the meaning of post- in post-America.

Civilized Colonialism: Pocahontas as Neocolonial Rhetoric

This essay argues that Disneys animated film Pocahontas is a neocolonialist text that rewrites the history of American colonial encounters with Native Americans, replacing the history of mass slaughter with a cute tale that functions to “civilize” and relegitimate colonialism. The essay demonstrates how the films romantic narrative appropriates contemporary social issues of feminism, environmentalism, and human freedom in order to make racial domination appear innocent and pure.

Deciphering Pocahontas: Unpackaging the commodification of a native American woman

This essay examines the commodification of Pocahontas surrounding the 1995 Disney film. Pocahontas. Through an examination of Pocahontas products and popular cultural discourses about Pocahontas, the essay develops a theory of the “cipher”; as a late‐capitalist commodity form. Theorization of the cipher helps explain how companies market a field of goods in relationship to a single product, such as a film. Marketing campaigns draw on generic forms and figures that can be easily reproduced and identified. Furthermore, through the marketing of Pocahontas goods and popular discourses, Disney and the general mainstream commodity culture construct a market for children versus parents. And while the commodity world of Pocahontas uses utopic appeals to sell products, through their appropriation of feminism and Native American culture and history, Pocahontas products and discourses contribute to the material oppression of women and Native Americans, generally, and Native American women in particular.

Critical Rhetorics of Race

Acknowledgments Foreword Raymie E. McKerrow Introduction Michael G. Lacy and Kent A. OnoPart I: Racialized Masculinities 1 ApocalypseMichael G. Lacy and Kathleen C. Haspel 2 Tales of TragedyCynthia Willis-Chun 3 N-word vs. F-word, Black vs. GayCatherine R. SquiresPart II: Whiteness 4 Quentin Tarantino in Black and White Sean Tierney 5 Patrolling National Identity, Masking White SupremacyMichelle A. Holling 6 Control, Discipline, and PunishRachel Alicia Griffin and Bernadette Marie CalafellPart III: Vernacular Resistances 7 Declarations of IndependenceJacqueline Bacon 8 Transgressive Rhetoric in Deliberative Democracy: The Black Press Michael Huspek 9 Bling FlingRoopali MukherjeePart IV: Racialized Complexities and Neocolonialism 10 The Rhythm of AmbitionAimee Carrillo Rowe, Sheena Malhotra, and Kimberlee Perez 11 Inscribing Racial Bodies and Relieving ResponsibilityJamie Moshin and Ronald L. Jackson II 12 Cinematic Representation and Cultural CritiqueMarouf Hasian, Jr., Carol W. Anderson, and Rulon Wood 13 Abstracting and De-Racializing DiversityRona Tamiko HalualaniBibliography About the Contributors Index

Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication

After reviewing traditional approaches to the study of immigrant adaptation, we develop a theory of differential adaptation, which suggests that migrants may adapt in a variety of ways that do not necessitate that they acquiesce to larger pressures to assimilate or accommodate the larger society they have joined; moreover, they may change the existing culture and society into which they move. Their experiences are “differential” and require a more complex theoretical framework for researching the relationships among immigration, culture, power, agency, and communication.

Critical Rhetorics of Controversy

This is an electronic version of an article published in Western Journal of Communication 63.4 (1999): 526-538. Western Journal of Communication is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/.

China in the US Imaginary: Tibet, the Olympics, and the 2008 Earthquake

Recent US media coverage of Beijing as the site of the Olympic Games, Tibet, the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province, the incredible pace of Chinas modernization, and human rights (among ot...