Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Date

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Communication

Committee Chair

Antonio de Velasco

Committee Member

Andre Johnson

Committee Member

Christina Moss

Committee Member

Leandra Hernández

Abstract

This dissertation examines how Latina rhetors in the Rio Grande Valley challenge and rearticulate hegemonic discourses that cast the U.S.-Mexico border as a perpetual site of crisis. I ask how Latina rhetorical agency operates within a region shaped by colonialism, racialization, and neoliberal governance, and how this concept helps explain the ways Latinas navigate, contest, and transform border spaces. I theorize borders as rhetorical topoi where meaning is continually negotiated through discourse and lived experience. Through rhetorical criticism and close reading, I analyze the public discourse and rhetorical practices of Sister Norma Pimentel, Dr. Juliet V. García, and Juanita Valdez-Cox. Each case study turns to a distinct site of engagement: immigration advocacy, higher education, and farmworker organizing. Across these sites, I trace how crisis discourse circulates and how Latina rhetors intervene in its reproduction. At the level of rhetorical practice, this dissertation identifies three interrelated modalities through which Latina rhetorical agency operates: reframing, rearranging, and reimagining. Sister Norma Pimentel’s prophetic discourse demonstrates how agency emerges through reframing as dominant narratives of immigration are reorganized through frames of moral obligation. Dr. Juliet V. García’s leadership reveals how agency operates through rearranging as deficit narratives surrounding Latiné students are reordered through stories of educational recognition. Juanita Valdez-Cox’s labor organizing illustrates how agency appears through reimagining as farmworker life is rendered visible by way of counterpublic formation. Together, these modalities reveal how Latina rhetors reshape dominant meanings while widening possibilities for recognition and belonging. I argue that Latina rhetorical agency functions as a critically regional and border-mediated rhetorical practice shaped through geopolitical, historical, and embodied conditions. This dissertation concludes that Latina rhetorical agency is central to the making and remaking of meaning within contested border spaces.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest/Clarivate.

Notes

Embargoed until 05-29-2031

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Available for download on Thursday, May 29, 2031

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