Activity Theory and the Designation of Vulnerable Populations as Tactical Technical Communicators: Female Veteran Farmers as Knowledge-makers in the Use of Agriculture Tools

Heather Smith

Advisor: Isidore K Dorpenyo, PhD, Department of English

Committee Members: McKinley Green, Crystal Kyle

Online Location, https://gmu.zoom.us/j/96371399606?pwd=pHYHUyanPRvKWbn9EBSoNL6SJMaVyr.1
October 25, 2024, 01:00 PM to 03:00 PM

Abstract:

This research uses a multi-method design ethnography methodology combined with thematic analysis and an activity theory framework to empower female veteran farmers as knowledge-makers in the use of agriculture tools.  I combine Miles Kimball’s call for tactical technical communicators integration into technical communications and Emma Rose’s request for methods to designate minoritized groups as knowledge-makers in the use of technologies to answer, “How do female veteran farmers’ everyday practices and means of doing contribute to knowledge of the use of agriculture tools?”  I theorize that female veterans habitually use metis during military service, particularly in relation to tools not designed for their bodies, and carry that metis into agriculture and other masculine-dominated career fields.  The combination of activity theory and thematic analysis provides the means to designate knowledge-makers and tactical technical communicators in the use of tools.