Anonymous Rhetorics and their Collective, Resistant, and Weaponized Networks
Open Access
Author:
Marin, Kellie
Graduate Program:
Communication Arts and Sciences (PHD)
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
June 03, 2022
Committee Members:
Michele Kennerly, Major Field Member Jeremy Engels, Chair & Dissertation Advisor Bradford Vivian, Major Field Member Debbie Hawhee, Outside Unit & Field Member Andrew High, Program Head/Chair
Anonymity has a bad reputation. From the imagery of white hoods to the Guy Fawkes mask to the vitriolic hate that often comes from its rhetors in online networks, anonymity warrants continued scrutiny. The reputation of surveillance in post-9/11 culture is not any better. Far reaching domestic and international surveillance of citizens and the racialized targeting of already marginalized groups have proven to be ubiquitous and detrimental to democracy and the livelihood of many. In my dissertation, I analyze the relationship between the two by focusing on anonymous networks and their rhetorics. Throughout my cases studies, I argue that anonymous rhetorics can promote collectivity by breaking with delimiting modes of neoliberal politics, resist surveillance and its violence, and critique the evolving modes in which citizen-participation within and for the surveillance state. This dissertation is not a defense of all anonymous rhetorics; rather, a reflection on how to be more ethically responsible to one another when the surveillance state would have it otherwise.
