Abstract
The rhetoric of Carrie Chapman Catt has only recently begun to be studied and theorized across several disciplinary contexts. In the field of communication and rhetorical criticism, previous studies have focused on either Catt’s domestic addresses to her followers and to the U.S. Congress, or have identified Catt’s international diplomacy as one of many motivating factors that spurred action toward suffrage by the American Congress. The focus of this essay is an attempt to analyze Catt’s shame appeals from an audience-centered perspective and begin to make plausible arguments about the instrumental effect of those strategies. Through an examination and close-textual analysis of Catt’s 1908 address to the Amsterdam Congress (a speech heretofore neglected by scholars), and of her 1923 address to the International Alliance of Women (IWA), this essay builds upon and enriches previous scholarship in this area of critical importance.
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Recommended Citation
Gerber, Matthew
(2016)
"Agitation in Amsterdam: The International Dimension of Carrie Chapman Catt's Suffrage Rhetoric,"
Speaker & Gavel: Vol. 53:
Iss.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/speaker-gavel/vol53/iss1/5
Included in
Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons