Mixed Messages of Environmental Protest: A Rhetorical Analysis of Celebrity Influence at the Dakota Access Pipeline Protest
Beckermann, K.M. (2017). Faculty Advisor: Dr. Mark Meister
Recently, the proposed construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakota threatened the environmental and cultural legacy of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST). In an effort to protect sacred sites and water supply, the SRST protest rhetoric highlighted the importance of their sacred beliefs. The original protest message quickly changed as celebrities, and the media that follows them, contributed to the protest. This paper explores and potentially explains how celebrity voices changed the trajectory of the original environmental protest message created by the SRST. By framing its protest rhetoric as distinct from the protest rhetoric of the SRST, the media coverage of celebrity engagement at DAPL overshadowed and masked SRST intentions.
Publication History
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Book Chapter (in press, title forthcoming). In C. Madere (ed.) Celebrity Culture.
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