Clarke Rountree

In the Spring 2007 issue we introduced new premium content for Kenneth Burke Society members, which included book discounts, copies of old KBS newsletters, and a significantly updated bibliography of Works about Kenneth Burke, organized into a variety of useful forms for scholars. That updated bibliography included hundreds of theses and dissertations, for which I provided a list of theses and dissertations by author and year. I now have added three more arrangements of theses and dissertations focused on Burke or his concepts: By thesis/dissertation director (or co-director), by university, and by subject term.

(If there are sources I have missed, I encourage readers to send me updates to make this the most accurate resource it can be.)

To whet your appetite for these new resources, let me note some interesting facts I have extracted from these new sources. First, over 200 graduate faculty have directed Burke-related theses and dissertations, almost all of them directing only one. They include many well known Burke scholars, as well as the likes of Harold Bloom, Peter Elbow, Craig Allen Smith, Calvin O. Schrag, and Carolyn Calloway Thomas.

Two professors of communication at the University of Southern California have directed the largest number of theses and dissertations: Thomas Hollihan has directed five dissertations and G. Thomas Goodnight has directed four. Nine professors have directed three Burke-related theses or dissertations, including Bernard Brock, David Descutner, John T. Gage, Michael P. Graves, Richard B. Gregg, Elizabeth Mechling, Trevor Melia, W. Ross Winterowd, and Marilyn J. Young. Some of these thesis directors have inaugurated scholarly geneologies for Burke studies. For example, Jack Selzer directed Ann George who directed emerging Burke scholar (and new KB Journal Happenings Editor) Elizabeth Weiser (see her recent Rhetoric Review essay).

Theses and dissertations have been directed in 132 different universities, including almost every major university in communication and literature. The greatest number of theses and dissertations were directed at Northwestern University (19), followed closely by the University of Southern California (17) and the University of Iowa (15). Five other universities have ten to twelve graduate projects to their credit, including the University of Pittsburgh, Purdue University, Penn State University, Indiana University, and Ohio University. Also notable is the interest in Burke outside the United States. First and foremost are the numerous Canadian theses and dissertations, but the bibliography also identifies work from Sweden, Norway, South Africa, and England.

Finally, the new arrangement of theses and dissertations by subject terms reflects the wide range of uses to which Burke has been put by masters and doctoral students. Those theses and dissertations that list “Kenneth Burke” as a subject term also list ninety-five different subject terms. These terms, with the number of theses and dissertations using them noted in parentheses, are listed below. (The bibliography in the “Premium Bibliographies” section, “Works about Burke: Theses and Dissertations by Subject Term,” lists the particular theses and dissertations under these subject terms.) Obviously a large number of these terms refer to rhetoric, communication, and literature. Many focus on education, history, philosophy, religion, sociology, and theology. Women studies includes an impressive nineteen entries. Then there are the surprising listings in biology, black studies, computer science, dance, economics, fisheries, gerontology, and urban and regional planning.

You may access these new bibliographies in the . If you are not currently a member of the Kenneth Burke Society, you may join here.

Subject Terms of Theses and Dissertations that Include “Kenneth Burke” as a Subject Term

AGRICULTURE, FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (1)
AMERICAN STUDIES (30)
ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL (9)
ARCHITECTURE (2)
ART HISTORY (2)
BIOGRAPHY (13)
BIOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY (1)
BLACK STUDIES (4)
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT (4)
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING (4)
CANADIAN STUDIES (2)
CINEMA (10)
COMPUTER SCIENCE (1)
DANCE (1)
ECONOMICS, AGRICULTURAL (1)
ECONOMICS, HISTORY (1)
EDUCATION, ADULT AND CONTINUING (1)
EDUCATION, ART (1)
EDUCATION, CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION (6)
EDUCATION, GENERAL (1)
EDUCATION, HIGHER (8)
EDUCATION, HISTORY OF (1)
EDUCATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (13)
EDUCATION, RELIGIOUS (1)
EDUCATION, SECONDARY (1)
EDUCATION, SOCIAL SCIENCES (1)
EDUCATION, SOCIOLOGY OF (1)
EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY (1)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (1)
FINE ARTS (3)
FISHERIES (1)
FOLKLORE (1)
GERONTOLOGY (1)
HEALTH SCIENCES, MEDICINE AND SURGERY (1)
HEALTH SCIENCES, PHYSICAL THERAPY (2)
HEALTH SCIENCES, PUBLIC HEALTH (1)
HISTORY, AFRICAN (2)
HISTORY, ANCIENT (1)
HISTORY, ASIA, AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA (2)
HISTORY, BLACK (4)
HISTORY, CANADIAN (1)
HISTORY, EUROPEAN (2)
HISTORY, MODERN (5)
HISTORY, UNITED STATES (17)
JOURNALISM (2)
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, GENERAL (1)
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, MODERN (5)
LANGUAGE, GENERAL (25)
LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS (4)
LANGUAGE, MODERN (10)
LANGUAGE, RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION (13)
LAW (7)
LITERATURE, AFRICAN (2)
LITERATURE, AMERICAN (64)
LITERATURE, ASIAN (1)
LITERATURE, CLASSICAL (3)
LITERATURE, COMPARATIVE (8)
LITERATURE, ENGLISH (28)
LITERATURE, GENERAL (16)
LITERATURE, GERMANIC (2)
LITERATURE, MEDIEVAL (3)
LITERATURE, MIDDLE EASTERN (1)
LITERATURE, MODERN (11)
LITERATURE, ROMANCE (1)
LITERATURE, SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN (2)
MASS COMMUNICATIONS (30)
MUSIC (6)
PHILOSOPHY (33)
POLITICAL SCIENCE, GENERAL (14)
POLITICAL SCIENCE, INTERNATIONAL LAW AND RELATIONS (4)
POLITICAL SCIENCE, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (3)
PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL (3)
PSYCHOLOGY, GENERAL (2)
PSYCHOLOGY, PERSONALITY (1)
PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL (4)
RELIGION, BIBLICAL STUDIES (9)
RELIGION, CLERGY (2)
RELIGION, GENERAL (29)
RELIGION, HISTORY OF (2)
RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY OF (7)
SCIENCE, HISTORY OF (4)
SOCIOLOGY, CRIMINOLOGY AND PENOLOGY (3)
SOCIOLOGY, ETHNIC AND RACIAL STUDIES (9)
SOCIOLOGY, GENERAL (5)
SOCIOLOGY, INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY STUDIES (3)
SOCIOLOGY, INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS (1)
SOCIOLOGY, PUBLIC AND SOCIAL WELFARE (1)
SOCIOLOGY, SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT (3)
SOCIOLOGY, THEORY AND METHODS (4)
SPEECH COMMUNICATION (152)
SPEECH-THEATER (3)
THEATER (21)
THEOLOGY (11)
URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING (1)
WOMEN'S STUDIES (19)