Radical Rhetoric: Anger, Activism, and Change

Abstract

Anger is something we all feel but often come to regret expressing, because it isn’t held in high regard by the dominant culture. Angry children are put into “time out,” angry adolescents are put on antidepressants, and angry adults are put into therapy or institutionalized. How many times have people of color been urged to get over their anger and just “get along”? In fact, the ability to keep one’s anger in check, in control, is often seen as sign of one’s diplomacy and emotional maturity. Warfare, combat, battle, abuse— these are the nouns most commonly associated with anger. Since we are socialized to resist the raw, confrontational tone that marks expressions of anger, authors who purposefully use it risk having their ideas silenced, ignored, dismissed, or otherwise rejected. However, much unnourished agency exists in selectively using anger as a rhetorical device, and Gloria Anzaldúa does just that throughout her writings.

Rather than seeing them as expressive vehicles, we must understand emotional discourses as pragmatic acts and communicative performances.

—Lila Abu-Lughod and Catherine A. Lutz