Framing Disaster and Recovery: The Power of Rhetoric after the 2011 Joplin Tornado Open Access
Doubledee, Sonya (Summer 2026)
Abstract
How a disaster is framed shapes how it is understood, and in turn, influences the recovery process. Drawing on Bitzer's understanding of the rhetorical situation and Vatz's distinction of the speaker as creator, this thesis defines strategic disaster rhetoric, a combined framework that positions speakers as simultaneously active and passive, responding to disaster as exigence while constructing narratives for target audiences.
Using the 2011 Joplin tornado as a case study, this thesis examines how post-disaster rhetorical frames in traditional media, federal documents, scholarly work, and original expert and community interviews shaped public and institutional discourse around recovery. Central tension emerges between national and local media: national coverage tended toward fear-based, sensationalized reporting, while local media was characterized by resilience narratives and resource news. This divergence raises a key question: how do dominant post-disaster frames align with or obscure the concerns of local communities?
Findings suggest that rhetorical framing may have played a meaningful role in shaping the recovery process and outcomes. Discourses focused on long-term structural change gained less traction before reconstruction was completed, indicating that time and resource constraints are underrepresented in dominant post-disaster frames. In contrast, Joplin's rapid recovery reflects a rhetorical environment that kept pace with community needs, suggesting how a disaster is narrated matters not just symbolically, but practically.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1 Study Context 1
1.2 Research Objectives 3
1.3 Content and Organization 4
Chapter 2: Strategic Disaster Rhetoric: Theoretical Framework 5
2.1 Disasters as Rhetorical Situations 5
2.2 Framing in Disaster Rhetoric 9
Chapter 3: Joplin’s History and Disaster 13
3.1 Historical Context: Joplin’s Economic Legacy 13
3.2 The Search for Ore 14
3.3 Joplin in the 21st century 18
Chapter 4: Methods 19
4.1 Media Analysis 19
4.2 Local Resident Interviews 21
4.3 Expert Interviews 23
Chapter 5: Analysis 24
5.1 Strategic Disaster Discourse: The 2011 Joplin Tornado 24
5.1.1 Sentiment Analysis 30
5.2 The EF5 Frame: Emphasis on Unprecedented Destruction 32
5.2.1 Definition and Examples 32
5.2.2 Results 36
5.3 The Local Ignorance Frame 42
5.3.1 Definition and Examples 42
5.3.2 Results 46
5.4 The Warning Frame 49
5.4.1 Definition and Examples 49
5.4.2 Results 50
5.4.3 Relationship with Local Ignorance 51
5.5 The Shelter Frame 52
5.5.1 Definition and Examples 52
5.5.2 Results 54
5.6 Limitations 56
Chapter 6: Findings 56
6.1 Rhetorical Patterns Within Post-Disaster Media 56
6.2 How Media Frames Diverge from Community Experience 58
6.3 Issue Prioritization: Resource Needs and the Limits of Disaster Rhetoric 60
6.3.1 Post-Disaster Community Concerns 61
6.3.2 Time and Resource Constraints 65
6.3.3 Time-Sensitive Support 67
Chapter 7: Implications for Disaster Recovery and Future Research 69
7.1 What is left behind? Costs of Immediacy 70
7.2 Applicability to other Disaster Events 71
7.3 Contributions to Literature 72
References 74
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