Graduation Semester and Year

2014

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in English

Department

English

First Advisor

James E. Warren

Second Advisor

Timothy Richardson

Abstract

In this project, I contend that African American rhetoric, namely African American sermonic rhetoric, constitutes a distinct, culturally specialized variety of rhetoric generated out of the distinctive circumstances of the African American Diasporic experience. I present the study of African American homiletics as a lens through which to view the intersections between culture and aural text. In order to examine the rhetorical tools peculiar to the African American religious tradition. I perform a solely rhetorical explication of many of the typical elements of Black Church sermons. To allow for this process, I have conducted archival research in order to generate transcribed Black Church sermons for the purpose of explicating the rhetorical and paralinguistic components therein. I also argue that the strategic use of AAVE within Black Church sermons serves a hermeneutical function. That is to say, the preacher's choice to deploy AAVE within Black Church sermons not only fosters solidarity between Black speakers and Black congregation, but aids in "meaning-making" on the part of the congregation as well as the process of Biblical exegesis.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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