Notes from "Reconceptualizing Rhetorical Activism in Contemporary Feminist Contexts"

Published by STACEY K. SOWARDS and VALERIE R. RENEGAR
Howard Journal of Communications Volume 17, Issue 1, 2006

• Humor helps activists live life in the present, rather than in an imagined future. 

• Humor narrates activism as a bright, creative movement. Humor ameliorates feelings of powerlessness.

• Beware of making demands of other people and judging them for a perceived lack of action, rather offer them resources to do their own work in the present. 

• Telling stories opens up space to make connections that build activist identities.

• Protest rhetoric is the reassertion of ego that has been oppressed or denied.