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Title
Understanding the "Usurpers": A Communicative Comparison of Christian Identity and Black Israelism
Description
This thesis aims to enhance the academic conception of American anti-Semitism by analyzing the rhetorical visions of two distinctly American theologies: Christian Identity and Black Israelism. Using a theoretical framework that couches the rhetoric of both religious movements within their respective historical contexts, I seek to understand the persuasive appeals of the alternative histories that lead both movements to conclude that their racial group is descended from the ancient Israelites--a status both movements claim has been "usurped" by contemporary Jews. After contextualizing their rhetoric, I juxtapose the rhetorical vision of Christian Identity with that of Black Israelism, concluding that the former can be understood as a movement and narrative premised on racial hubris whose paranoid rhetoric makes meaningful contributions to the climate of anti-Semitism, while the latter constitutes a movement and narrative premised on historically-legitimated suspicion whose paranoid rhetoric, though invidious, does not constitute a comparable threat.
Date Created
2018-05
Contributors
- Ruben, Brian (Author)
- Walker, Michael (Thesis director)
- Mueller, Caroll (Committee member)
- School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
- Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Resource Type
Extent
69 pages
Language
eng
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Series
Academic Year 2017-2018
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.48093
Level of coding
minimal
Cataloging Standards
System Created
- 2018-04-21 12:11:20
System Modified
- 2021-08-11 04:09:57
- 3 years 3 months ago
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