Browsing by Author "Belmihoub, Ibtissem"

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Rhetorical Agency in Digital Storytelling: New Americans' Voices in the Chthulucene
(North Dakota State University, 2021) Belmihoub, Ibtissem
This study explores New American (refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers) storytelling and agency through Donna Haraway’s concepts of the Chthulucene (pronounced thulusene), making kin, and staying with the trouble. Haraway’s framework positions this study in the Chthulucene era, where humans recognize that solving global issues requires making connections and taking collaborative action. This study demonstrates how New Americans can create counter-narratives through Digital Storytelling (DST) in the Chthulucene. An analysis of ten New American participants’ DST processes and story choices is provided. This research responds to three main questions: How do New Americans shape their digital stories through specific choices and how do these choices display agency? What do their storytelling processes reveal about agency through their rhetorical and linguistic choices? Finally, how do New Americans display their agency in multimodal storytelling? Participatory Action Research (PAR) is used to frame the research questions. Alongside the collaborative, flexible, and adaptable nature of PAR, the Story Center’s Digital Storytelling (DST) model was selected as the appropriate approach to facilitate DST workshops for New American participants. Three separate workshops included ten New American participants from different backgrounds. Approaches such as focus groups, story workshop reflections, and individual interviews were used to respond to the research questions. After transcribing focus groups and individual interviews, all data was coded using Grounded Theory. The findings suggest that participants make storytelling process, rhetorical, linguistic, and multimodal story choices by being intentional in using their original voice and agency as counter-narrators. Participants’ storytelling process choices indicate that past storytelling constricted their agency while DST provided an opportunity for their agency to be visible. Furthermore, participants’ rhetorical choices demonstrate their audience and situational awareness. In addition, linguistic choices illustrate that participants’ understanding and use of English demonstrates translingual practices. Moreover, multimodal story choices display their innovation and commitment to personal intentional storytelling. Additionally, participants' experiences in storytelling and how they implement their agency varies by individual. This study demonstrates what doing research and practicing pedagogy that operates in the Chthulucene might look like for Rhetoric and Writing Studies to remain relevant.
What to Expect When You Don’t Know What to Expect: Analysis of International Student Expectations at Writing Centers
(North Dakota State University, 2015) Belmihoub, Ibtissem
This study focuses on international student expectations regarding Writing Centers, how participants develop these expectations and what Writing Centers can do to meet these expectations. Focus groups were held to gather data. The recorded interviews were then transcribed and analyzed using James Gee’s approach to critical discourse analysis. Findings include four categories of expectations that were developed by participants before they went to the Writing Center, during a session, or after a few experiences: workshops, tutors in different disciplines, “involved” tutors, and “fix” paper. The analysis reveals that expectations categories are developed when students connect and/or disconnect themselves from the Writing Center services. Power dynamics involved include: Standard English, tutoring strategies designed for Native English Speakers, and advisers’ powerful positions.