Collective Identity and Feminist Rhetorics: 19th-Century Relief Society Leaders' Use of Ethos-Based Identities as a Pathetic Appeal to the Women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Author

Tiffany GrayFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-4-2023

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Lynee Lewis Gaillet

Second Advisor

Elizabeth Lopez

Third Advisor

Ashley Holmes

Abstract

Latter-day Saint women have led the Relief Society by implementing a rhetorical practice that seeks to unite the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 19^th-century Relief Society leaders began a rhetorical pattern of persuasion by utilizing ethos-based rhetorics found in their use of the collective identity ‘Sister’ and feminist identity of ‘Charity Work.’ As exemplified by commemorative acts of remembrance of the Relief Society’s March 17^th Birthday and the perpetuated use of the terms established by the first leaders of the Relief Society, Latter-day Saint women continue to invoke pathos as a relationship between speaker and audience over time and across generations, demonstrating not only a form of pathetic appeal intended to unite the women of the Latter-day Saint faith, but also denotes a rhetorical process of pathos characteristic of religious women’s rhetoric and worthy of inclusion in the rhetorical canon.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/35478713

Recommended Citation

Gray, Tiffany, "Collective Identity and Feminist Rhetorics: 19th-Century Relief Society Leaders' Use of Ethos-Based Identities as a Pathetic Appeal to the Women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2023.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/35478713

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