Fire, Sacrifice, and Social Change: The Rhetoric of Self-Immolation

Abstract

Self-immolation is a complex rhetorical gesture that confounds many traditional norms of analysis, because it is an act in which the rhetorical canvas is the body. In this dissertation I analyze mediated responses to self-immolation in order to account for when self-immolation is likely to influence an audience and prompt change in society. Based on my findings during this analysis, I constructed an appropriate theory based explanation to illustrate how and why self- immolation achieves widespread resonance in some cases but not in others. First, the self- immolation must be recognized as justified due to a widely perceived crisis. In other words, the audience of the self-immolation must be able to comprehend why someone would take such an extreme action. Second, the protest must resonate with the audience's values and cultural beliefs. Whether due to religion or some other factor, the mediated narratives of self-immolations must be framed in a way that generates identification. Third, the style and power of the government in charge of the self-immolator's community will have a significant influence on how the self- immolator's story is told. Following an introduction to this study and a description of the history and religious roots of self-immolation, I apply this theory to multiple cases of self-immolation. In Chapter Three I analyze self-immolations during the Vietnam War era. In Chapters Four and Five I analyze self-immolations in Tibet and the Arab Spring, respectively. Finally, in Chapter Six, I discuss the implications of this study.