O'Neill, Katie Kavanagh
(2017)
Mobtown Memories: Towards a People's History of Violence in Baltimore.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This dissertation draws on the theories and practices of oral history, rhetorical criticism, and archival research to present a people’s history of violence in Baltimore throughout the war on drugs. Chapters One and Two draw from a set of oral histories collected from Baltimore Guardian Angels, a historically militant community watch group; the founding residents of Viva House, a local Catholic Worker community of war resistors committed to the cause of economic justice. Those chapters work together to present a complex and sometimes conflicting story of Baltimore’s history of drugs, race, poverty, and violence from the 1980s through the 2000s. In Chapter Three, I offer a close analysis of RIP T-shirts as objects and practice used for memorializing murder victims in the city. By placing these artifacts in the context of the histories that surface in Chapters One and Two, I unpack what is revealed about the individuals and communities most impacted by urban violence in terms of identity, resistance, and power. Throughout the dissertation, I pay particular attention to the relationship between state violence and street violence and how those connections contribute to identity formation and sense-making for those born on the battlefield in Baltimore under the war on drugs.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
28 September 2017 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
16 June 2017 |
| Approval Date: |
28 September 2017 |
| Submission Date: |
16 August 2017 |
| Access Restriction: |
5 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 5 years. |
| Number of Pages: |
262 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Communication: Rhetoric and Communication |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
rhetoric of violence, visual rhetoric, oral history, Baltimore, War on Drugs, Cultural Studies, American Studies, Urban Communication |
| Date Deposited: |
28 Sep 2017 23:00 |
| Last Modified: |
28 Sep 2022 05:15 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/33033 |
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