Dr. Robin Jensen

By Tyler Kirgiss
Senior, Mass Communication

A department assistant professor is heading research this semester that examines the rhetoric of one of Purdue's most well-known historical icons, Amelia Earhart.

Graduate students in Assistant Professor Robin Jensen's COM684 "Rhetorical History: Three Waves of Feminism," are looking at Earhart's use of rhetorical appeals to inspire women, specifically to encourage an interest among women in aviation.

Much research has already been done on Earhart, a Purdue women's counselor in 1935 and 1936, but most of it focuses on her mysterious disappearance in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world. What makes her current research project interesting, said Jensen, is its focus on what Earhart said while she was alive.

The class is examining the appeals used in Earhart's 1932 book, "The Fun of It," as well as letters, clothing, and other items from George Palmer Putnam's collection of Amelia Earhart papers that is housed at Purdue.

The group has found that to persuade others, Earhart used a "transcendent persona" that involves speaking from experiences that others do not have to establish credibility. Earhart uses her aviation experience to establish that credibility, Jensen said. "She presented a model for women that was different from models in the past."

Her message was heard and respected by many, Jensen said.

Claudia Janssen, one of the graduate students in Jensen's class, said Earhart stresses her unconventional way of life in her writing. For example, she tells stories from her childhood of playing games that only the boys used to play, as an attempt to show women examples of how to break the mold.

"She was kind of a pop star at that time," Janssen said, adding that Earhart even designed her own line of aviation-inspired clothing.

The researchers said Earhart saw her story as somewhat of an "Alice in Wonderland" tale, in which she is not afraid to go down the rabbit hole and discover new worlds and ideas.

Jensen said the project has modern-day applications because the better we can understand how rhetoric has been used successfully in the past, the better we can understand how to use it in the future.

The project is producing a paper, tentatively titled "Transcendent Persona: Amelia Earhart's Rhetoric of Inevitable Progress," that the group hopes to submit to the Quarterly Journal of Speech this summer.