Date of Award
Spring 5-2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Communication Studies
School
Communication
Committee Chair
Wendy Atkins-Sayre
Committee Chair Department
Communication Studies
Committee Member 2
Casey Malone Maugh Funderburk
Committee Member 2 Department
Communication Studies
Committee Member 3
Steven Venette
Committee Member 3 Department
Communication Studies
Committee Member 4
John Meyer
Committee Member 4 Department
Communication Studies
Committee Member 5
Keith Erickson
Committee Member 5 Department
Communication Studies
Abstract
This study examines the rhetoric of whiteness framing albinism in the general public. It is argued that the albinic body is a unique space from which the typical coding of race, and the very act of difference making can be deconstructed. This analysis brings into focus observations about how whiteness operates rhetorically and ideologically in popular discourse to create negative verbal and visual trope of albinism, called the albino trope. Through the albino trope, White privilege maintains its invisible rhetorical silence. By examining the complexities that arise when albinism is communicated about in the general public, we gain more insight into the understanding of race in our culture.
Copyright
2017, Niya Miller
Recommended Citation
Miller, Niya P., "Un-Othering the Albino: How Popular Communication Constructs Albinism Identity" (2017). Dissertations. 1372.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1372