Patriotism, Courtesy of Toby Keith: The Voice of Country Music After September 11

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dc.contributor.authorDickerson, Arin Roseen
dc.contributor.committeechairHolloway, Rachel L.en
dc.contributor.committeememberWaggenspack, Beth M.en
dc.contributor.committeememberDenton, Robert E. Jr.en
dc.contributor.departmentCommunication Studiesen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T21:35:08Zen
dc.date.adate2006-05-24en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T21:35:08Zen
dc.date.issued2006-04-25en
dc.date.rdate2009-05-24en
dc.date.sdate2006-05-01en
dc.description.abstractIn releasing the songs "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" and "American Soldier" in the aftermath of September 11, country artist Toby Keith enacts a tradition that has been established in the world of country music since the Civil War, that of producing wartime songs of patriotism. I conducted an organic analysis of both songs as rhetorical acts produced and consumed within a particular rhetorical context. Because country music is fundamentally a discourse that celebrates the attitudes, values and experiences of its audience, I first analyzed these two songs as instances of epideictic rhetoric. As an epideictic rhetor, Keith reinforces the traditional values of the country music audience, uniting them in celebration of the communal identity that renders them a rhetorical community. That shared identity enables Keith to advance a rhetorical vision of a post-September 11 reality, attributing meaning to the events of September 11 and the ensuing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. I use pentadic analysis to illuminate the vision presented in each song, and I utilize both media coverage and the Billboard charts to determine how well this vision "chained out" amongst the country music audience. Lastly, I utilize media coverage to explore the rhetorical context in which these songs were written and consumed.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.identifier.otheretd-05012006-193529en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05012006-193529/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/42376en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartMasters_Thesis.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectToby Keithen
dc.subjectDramatismen
dc.subjectSymbolic Convergenceen
dc.subjectEpideictic Rhetoricen
dc.subjectSeptember 11en
dc.subjectCountry musicen
dc.titlePatriotism, Courtesy of Toby Keith: The Voice of Country Music After September 11en
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineCommunication Studiesen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

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