Graduation Year
2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
English
Major Professor
Lisa Melonçon, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Carl Herndl, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Diane Price-Herndl, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Morgan Gresham, Ph.D.
Keywords
activism, composition, feminism, rhetoric
Abstract
“Resilience” has often been defined by examining case studies in resilience failures. In contrast, this case study utilizes the oldest, still functional fishing village in Cortez, Florida to rhetorically analyze how organizational communicative practices have worked to ensure its resilience. Situating this conversation within Rhetoric proves valuable since so many attempts to define and utilize “resilience” seek to capitalize on its positive connotation but distort resilience definitions and practice. This dissertation explores three research questions: 1. “What systems and/or structures made our continued existence possible and what ideologies or goals drove their creation?” 2. “What ideologies, perceptions, and/or goals inspired the creation of sustaining organizations in Cortez such as FISH and how do these beliefs influence organizational rhetoric and public communication?” 3. “Through the use the resilience heuristic (i.e., intrinsic value, preservation work, and attuning to space/place and beyond), what advice might Cortez hold as a case study for other threatened community-ecosystem-cultures (CECs), especially within Florida?” The qualitative research records and highlights local knowledge by collecting interviews from female activists within three organizations (FISH, CVHS, and FMM), analyzing existing interviews and organizational communications, proving rhetorical awareness of our own vulnerability, keen insight to the ecosystem benefits Cortezians rely upon using space and place theory within New Materialism, and documenting responsive attitudes and institutions. By exploring these existing documents, contributing helpful concepts to the field such as the networks created by shared Community-Ecosystem-Cultures (CECs), a heuristic for other vulnerable CECs to follow, this research proves that resilience practices ought to grow and be accessed by all vulnerable communities. This dissertation uncovers thinking, communicating, and organizing practices that move “resilience” forward revealing how vulnerable communities have enacted it.
Scholar Commons Citation
Maddox, Karla Ariel, "Organizations Ensuring Resilience: A Case Study of Cortez, Florida" (2023). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/9900
