{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132524"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132524","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"The problem with belief: the history and present of discursive violence in policing rape","abstract":"To understand the metapragmatics of sexual assault at a police academy in Illinois that has a novel approach to sexual assault training, this dissertation examines the discursive development of various rape myths within the United States, and Illinois specifically, while also tracing the development of policing. To do this, I thoroughly contextualize rape myths and their development within the US cultural and legal systems including within settler-colonialism, chattel slavery, and various social movements. This historical and archival research establishes further evidence that rape is always racialized, gendered, and classed, regardless of the identities of those involved and that these identities continue to influence police response to sexual assault complaints. Pulling from linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, and gender studies, and employing the theories/concepts of feminist scholars of color and Critical Race theorists, I place my dissertation under an approach I call Decolonial Feminist Linguistic Anthropology. critically examine the role of race and gender in discourses on sexual assault. Combining archival and ethnographic research, I critically examine the role of race and gender in discourses on sexual assault. I show how a range of social structures, past and present, inform the construction of rape and belief, how these constructions have surfaced in the policing of sexual violence, and how conceptions of expertise, rooted in the Professionalization Movement of policing, have recently taken aim at disrupting these constructions.","abstract_html":"To understand the metapragmatics of sexual assault at a police academy in Illinois that has a novel approach to sexual assault training, this dissertation examines the discursive development of various rape myths within the United States, and Illinois specifically, while also tracing the development of policing. To do this, I thoroughly contextualize rape myths and their development within the US cultural and legal systems including within settler-colonialism, chattel slavery, and various social movements. This historical and archival research establishes further evidence that rape is always racialized, gendered, and classed, regardless of the identities of those involved and that these identities continue to influence police response to sexual assault complaints. Pulling from linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, and gender studies, and employing the theories/concepts of feminist scholars of color and Critical Race theorists, I place my dissertation under an approach I call Decolonial Feminist Linguistic Anthropology. critically examine the role of race and gender in discourses on sexual assault. Combining archival and ethnographic research, I critically examine the role of race and gender in discourses on sexual assault. I show how a range of social structures, past and present, inform the construction of rape and belief, how these constructions have surfaced in the policing of sexual violence, and how conceptions of expertise, rooted in the Professionalization Movement of policing, have recently taken aim at disrupting these constructions.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Moore, Britni"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Linguistics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Smalls, Krystal","Rosas, Gilberto","Koven, Michele","Ehrlich, Susan"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12","date_published":"2025-12","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z","subjects":["Rape Myth Discourses","Discursive Violence","Epistemic Injustice","Police Training on Sexual Assault","Cop Talk"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Britni Jo Moore"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132524","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Smalls, Krystal","Rosas, Gilberto","Koven, Michele","Ehrlich, Susan"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Moore, Britni"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-12","2025-12-04"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Linguistics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Rape Myth Discourses","Discursive Violence","Epistemic Injustice","Police Training on Sexual Assault","Cop Talk"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Britni Jo Moore"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132524"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["To understand the metapragmatics of sexual assault at a police academy in Illinois that has a novel approach to sexual assault training, this dissertation examines the discursive development of various rape myths within the United States, and Illinois specifically, while also tracing the development of policing. To do this, I thoroughly contextualize rape myths and their development within the US cultural and legal systems including within settler-colonialism, chattel slavery, and various social movements. This historical and archival research establishes further evidence that rape is always racialized, gendered, and classed, regardless of the identities of those involved and that these identities continue to influence police response to sexual assault complaints. Pulling from linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, and gender studies, and employing the theories/concepts of feminist scholars of color and Critical Race theorists, I place my dissertation under an approach I call Decolonial Feminist Linguistic Anthropology. critically examine the role of race and gender in discourses on sexual assault. Combining archival and ethnographic research, I critically examine the role of race and gender in discourses on sexual assault. I show how a range of social structures, past and present, inform the construction of rape and belief, how these constructions have surfaced in the policing of sexual violence, and how conceptions of expertise, rooted in the Professionalization Movement of policing, have recently taken aim at disrupting these constructions.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Britni Moore, accepted the attached license on 2025-12-04 at 11:37.","The student, Britni Moore, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-12-04 at 11:37.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-12-04 at 15:12.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22931 on 2026-02-19 at 18:25:16"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The problem with belief: the history and present of discursive violence in policing rape"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Smalls, Krystal","Rosas, Gilberto","Koven, Michele","Ehrlich, Susan"],"dc:creator":["Moore, Britni"],"dc:date":["2025-12","2025-12-04"],"dc:description":["To understand the metapragmatics of sexual assault at a police academy in Illinois that has a novel approach to sexual assault training, this dissertation examines the discursive development of various rape myths within the United States, and Illinois specifically, while also tracing the development of policing. To do this, I thoroughly contextualize rape myths and their development within the US cultural and legal systems including within settler-colonialism, chattel slavery, and various social movements. This historical and archival research establishes further evidence that rape is always racialized, gendered, and classed, regardless of the identities of those involved and that these identities continue to influence police response to sexual assault complaints. Pulling from linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, and gender studies, and employing the theories/concepts of feminist scholars of color and Critical Race theorists, I place my dissertation under an approach I call Decolonial Feminist Linguistic Anthropology. critically examine the role of race and gender in discourses on sexual assault. Combining archival and ethnographic research, I critically examine the role of race and gender in discourses on sexual assault. I show how a range of social structures, past and present, inform the construction of rape and belief, how these constructions have surfaced in the policing of sexual violence, and how conceptions of expertise, rooted in the Professionalization Movement of policing, have recently taken aim at disrupting these constructions.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Britni Moore, accepted the attached license on 2025-12-04 at 11:37.","The student, Britni Moore, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-12-04 at 11:37.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-12-04 at 15:12.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22931 on 2026-02-19 at 18:25:16"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132524"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Britni Jo Moore"],"dc:subject":["Rape Myth Discourses","Discursive Violence","Epistemic Injustice","Police Training on Sexual Assault","Cop Talk"],"dc:title":["The problem with belief: the history and present of discursive violence in policing rape"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Linguistics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z"}