“Proud to be Autistic”: Greta Thunberg’s Queering Rhetorical Genre in Climate Change Advocacy

Abstract

Greta Thunberg, a young, autistic climate change activist from Sweden, has generated mixed opinions about her rhetoric since her #FridaysForFuture climate movement that started in 2018. Many people have found her inspiring, leading youth around the world to protest political inaction about climate change. Many autistic people have also found power in Thunberg’s fearless identification as an autistic person. However, there are people who stand strongly against her rhetoric and her autistic identity. Michael Knowles, podcast host from the Daily News, commented that Thunberg is “mentally ill,” and former U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that Thunberg should enhance her “Anger Management.” Previous studies have analyzed Thunberg’s rhetoric, partially explaining the controversy and power of her rhetoric. Nevertheless, they don’t pay sustained attention to the role of Thunberg’s autistic identity in choosing her rhetorical strategies. My research focuses on the role of Thunberg’s autistic identity in making her rhetoric controversial yet powerful. I base my research on the framework of genre as social action pioneered by Carolyn Miller and queering rhetoric pioneered by Remi Yergeau. I have found that by both conforming to and queering, which is exploring untraditional possibilities, expectations for the genre of epideictic political speeches, Thunberg redefines the exigence of immediate climate change action for the audience. In her political speeches, Thunberg distances herself from her immediate audience instead of creating identifications with them to create the exigence of immediate climate change action instead of submitting to political inaction. My findings also raise future research questions about how to accommodate neurodivergent students in classroom settings, how to better teach the concept of rhetorical genre, and how neurodivergent rhetors can explore more rhetorical possibilities.