Communication ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-15-2022

Abstract

Climate change is fundamentally rooted in facts such as rising global temperatures, carbon emissions, losses in biodiversity, etc. However new information about our changing world is translated and incorporated within the narratives we live by and give form to our personal and collective worlds. While climate change is scientific, our mitigation efforts are entirely storied. This thesis looks at popular climate narratives that frames climate change as an issue of Earthly mechanics fixable through innovative technology. The goal of this thesis is to understand the ways in which settler colonialism, as a communicable mechanism of cultural production, organizes this particular climate narrative around the futurity of the settler collective. Looking at digital content of U.S.-based green billionaires who directly advocate for innovation, I utilize the principals of critical rhetoric to perform a critical, cultural, and communication-based analysis of their climate narrative in order to denaturalize practices of settler reproduction.

Language

English

Keywords

settler colonialism, climate change, narrative, rhetoric, archive

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Communication

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Department of Communication and Journalism

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Michael Lechuga

Second Committee Member

Dr. Jaelyn deMaria

Third Committee Member

Dr. Susana Martinez-Guillem

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