Sick and tired of being sick and tired : visual rhetorical practices of black feminist clapback.

This thesis analyzes the discursive practices of US Vice President Kamala Harris, US Representative Maxine Waters, and US Representative Ilhan Omar. It posits Black femme style as a productive way to analyze the rhetorical performances of these political figures. Exploring a multiplicity of rhetorical performances, I identify rhetorical acts of racialized and sexualized violence directed toward these women by President Trump, while also outlining the “survival strategies” Black femme politicians have enunciated as a form of collective resistance. In so doing, I explain a Black femme style of political clapback as a rhetorical performance. The thesis examines tweets, memes and public debates. It also partially corrects the underrepresentation of Black women in the field of communication. Black femme politicians participate in a radical form of subject-making that counteracts narratives of Black political failure, spotlighting the resiliency of Black femme politicians in the era of MAGA politics.