The metanarrative of rural environmentalism: Rhetorical activism in Bold Nebraska’s Harvest the Hope

Abstract

The ongoing, decade-long fight against the Keystone XL Pipeline in the state of Nebraska has incorporated traditional levers of public relations such as media relations and lobbying but has also borrowed from the long-standing tradition of rhetorical activism within U.S. environmental history. Through Fisher’s narrative paradigm, a rhetorical analysis of Bold Nebraska’s Harvest the Hope music festival is provided to understand the role of symbolic appeals in building an environmental activism metanarrative or master frame. Such an analysis shows how the social movement organization communicates to its members and mass audiences through a non-traditional communication approach such as the benefit rock concert. As a site of public relations study, Bold Nebraska’s music festival activism draws from mainstream, alternative, and Indigenous cultural artifacts, symbols, and histories in contesting existing metanarratives. With its incorporation of historical ecological symbols and rhetorical tropes, Harvest the Hope helped attendees and audiences make sense of both the organization and the movement in which they found themselves a part of. By bringing rural and Indigenous communities together, it justified Bold Nebraska’s broader pipeline activism and helped audiences see the project through the lens of a broader, rural-based coalition.

Data analysis and personalized recommendation of western music history information using deep learning under Internet of Things

“…On the other hand, it can assist online system administrators in managing different types of resources and providing efficient search services. The purpose of individual modeling of students is to explain the characteristics of students through different levels of information, including the daily performance, learning habits, internal knowledge, learning ability, learning interest, and mental health level of students [ 17 , 18 ]. Student modeling is the emphasis of EDM, because the modelling results can support various educational applications, such as performance prediction, and resource recommendation.…”

31 Critical reflections on the field

“…Across the global south, PR has been fundamental to the visibility of causes such as the Landless movement in Brazil, Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, and the #FeesMustFall movement in South Africa. On a global scale, PR has supported activists' response to the global financial crisis and ensuing recession, through movements and projects such as Occupy, Jubilee Debt and the Robin Hood Tax, and to ongoing environmental movements (Bourne 2017;Demetrious 2019;Moscato 2019;Straughan 2004).…”