Rhetorical Counterinsurgency: The FBI and the American Indian Movement

Authors

Casey R. Kelly, Butler UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Publication Title

Advances in the History of Rhetoric

First Page

223

Last Page

258

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15362426.2007.10557283

Abstract

This essay unfolds in three sections. First, I develop a theory of
rhetorical counterinsurgency and explain its refinement within the
FBI as a method of threat control and management. Second, I situate rhetorical counterinsurgency within a series of migrating cultural
contexts, including the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and cultural
stereotypes of American Indians. These contexts constrained the
available interpretations of Indian, as well as non-Indian radicalism and
justified the application of techniques of counterinsurgency. Finally,
I offer a rhetorical analysis of both the FBI’s use of communicative
tactics as a method of counterinsurgency as well as the content of their
rhetorical constructions of AIM. I investigate two disarming topoi of
savagery: AIM as communist surrogate and American Viet Cong.

Rights

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in ADVANCES IN THE HISTORY OF RHETORIC on November 26, 2012, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/15362426.2007.10557283.

Recommended Citation

Casey R. Kelly. Rhetorical Counterinsurgency: The FBI and the American Indian Movement. Advances in the History of Rhetoric 10 (2007): 223-258. Available from digitalcommons.butler.edu/ccom_papers/29