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Bodies that Argue: NWP’s Prison
Special, Vulnerable Bodies, and Appeals to Civic Obligation
In 1919, the National Woman’s Party planned the Prison Special, a
cross-country train tour stopping in 16 cities in 24 days under the
slogan “from prison to people.” On board the special were 26 White
women, all of whom had served time in prison for their suffrage
activism, many of whom had been forcibly fed. Clad in replica prison
uniforms, armed with issues of the Suffragist and a pamphlet titled
“Jailed for Freedom,” and ready to show a magic lantern slideshow of
images of suffrage protest, these women spoke in packed halls, from the
backs of convertibles, and to whomever would listen. The Prison Special
offers a complex example of body argument.Catherine H. Palczewski, University of Northern Iowa The NWP’s verbal and visual arguments represent an interesting mix of empowerment and vulnerability. At the same time the suffragists are depicted as heroes courageously fighting the Administration, the NWP also heightens their vulnerability. This could be read as a callous and strategic appeal to dominant discourses of femininity or as an alternate vision of citizenship, based not on shared rights but on the shared human condition of vulnerability. The Prison Special makes clear the centrality of bodies that argue. The women’s words, alone, would not carry the same valence or weight. Their bodies, imprisoned, starved, forcibly fed, arguing in public were both proof for their arguments and enactment of their advocacy. |
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Copyright
© 2010. For Wake Forest University Fifteenth Biennial Argumentation
Conference.
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