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    Recollecting La Technique : industrial heritage sites and the rhetoric of technology

    Author
    Adamczyk, Christopher Lee
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    179760_Adamczyk_rpi_0185E_11576.pdf (8.587Mb)
    Other Contributors
    Haskins, Ekaterina V., 1969-; Deery, June; Zappen, James Philip; Esrock, Ellen J.; Winner, Langdon;
    Date Issued
    2019-08
    Subject
    Communication and rhetoric
    Degree
    PhD;
    Terms of Use
    This electronic version is a licensed copy owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Copyright of original work retained by author.;
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    URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13015/2431
    Abstract
    Industrial heritage sites are locations that exemplify both public memory and the rhetoric of technology. In this dissertation, I interpret three examples of industrial heritage sites to identify and characterize their common rhetorical features. Using Lowell National Historical Park, I identify how industrial heritage sites root their rhetoric in the technological sublime. Using the National Museum of Industrial History, I describe how industrial heritage sites invite their guests to orient toward workers’ experiences using textual, visual, and experiential displays. Finally, using Thomas Edison National Historical Park, I identify how industrial heritage sites situate sublime technology and guests-as-workers within a technocratic, national scene. With these three features considered, I then argue that industrial heritage sites, and thus the rhetoric of technology they invoke, can be understood as manifestations of what Jacques Ellul terms la technique. I conclude by suggesting an alternative way to recollect the technological past that draws upon virtue ethics.;
    Description
    August 2019; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
    Department
    Dept. of Communication and Media;
    Publisher
    Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
    Relationships
    Rensselaer Theses and Dissertations Online Collection;
    Access
    Users may download and share copies with attribution in accordance with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. No commercial use or derivatives are permitted without the explicit approval of the author.;
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