November 6, 2018 marked midterm elections and it is in this spirit that the C+MRC podcast features (again) our residential rhetorical scholar Dr. Marylou Naumoff who specializes in rhetorical studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and popular culture.
In a previous podcast, Dr. Naumoff spoke America’s love of monsters (through horror fiction). In a not entirely unrelated vein, we discuss in this podcast the rhetorical moves of Marco Rubio in his 2016 presidential bid to unite the Republican Party and Hispanic Americans, or what is referred to as “Latinx.” Dr. Naumoff describes the current meaning of this term and why it was rhetorically significant in the 2016 presidential election. She also leads listeners through the process of “rhetorical capture” and how it is different from public relations or branding.
Ultimately, Republicans may want to rethink their strategic anti-immigration appeals; not only is the Latinx population growing, but the data show that this population is very active politically, be they citizen or immigrant. Find out in this podcast what Marco Rubio’s rhetorical moves can teach Republicans about securing the Latinx vote in the near future.
You can read more about Dr. Naumoff’s research in “I Am Your Tomorrow: A Rhetorical Examination of Marco Rubio’s Presidential Bid as a Discourse of Capture” published in the forthcoming 2019 volume, Race, Gender, and Sexuality in American Politics edited by Lori Montalbano and published by Lexington Press.
Dr. Marylou Naumoff is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Media and the Coordinator of the Fundamentals of Speech Program. Her methodological approach is rhetorical studies informed by cultural and feminist theories. Her research agenda focuses on understanding constructions of American identity by looking to popular culture as a primary site of creation and negotiation.
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