Michelle Obama and the FLOTUS Effect

Heather E. Harris is professor of communication at Stevenson University.Kimberly R. Moffitt is associate professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

• 1.Poetry in Motions (and Cocoa Butter): Discerning Michelle Obama’s Body as a Site of Rhetorical Dissent and Performative Black WomanhoodGeraud Blanks2.Ain’t She a First Lady?: Michelle Obama, Black Women’s Narratives, and the Rhetoric of IdentificationSharoni Denise Little3.Finding the First Lady: The Construction and Negotiation of Michelle Obama’s IdentityLeticia D. Williams4.Negotiated Respectability, the Looking Glass Self and Mrs. Michelle ObamaErnestine A. W. Duncan and Khadijah O. Miller5.Michelle Obama’s Impact on Contemporary Feminisms: A Critical Examination of the Intersectional Raced and Gendered Discourse of the First LadyDiane Forbes Berthoud6.Reflection, Race, and Representation: Analyzing the Magic of Michelle Obama Effect with and for our Black Daughters Shawntay Stocks, Sherella Cupid and Tahira Mahdi7.“When They Go Low, We Go High”: Michelle Obama’s Feminine Style Approach to Sexual Assault During the 2016 ElectionJames M. Schnoebelen and Sarah C. Dweik8.Visuality and the Pathetic First LadyStephanie Wideman9.United We Stand: Michelle Obama’s Influence on Reframing the Narrative, Imagery and Discourse of Veterans and Military Families Stormy P. Trotter10.#thanksMichelleObama: The Fight over Healthy School Lunches and Advocacy Work by the First Lady Elizabeth Freund Malnati11.#TurnipForWhat: The On Fleek Persona of Michelle ObamaErin F. Doss

This laudatory collection conveys first-rate analyses of how Michelle Obama embodied her extraconstitutional role as first lady of the United States (FLOTUS). Editors Harris (Stevenson Univ.) and Moffitt (Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County) bring together contributions stressing both the uniqueness of the first African American FLOTUS and her agency in highlighting the intersectionality of gender, race, and class. Essays grapple with her physicality, as presented, perceived, and inappropriately commented on, and her self-identification as “Mom-in-Chief,” forcing a vital debate on—even a redefinition of—feminist perspectives. Several authors emphasize the role of FLOTUS in influencing policy, coupled with her ability to serve as a link to the real world for the president. Among other former first ladies, Michelle Obama enters a small cadre with her unique capacity to retain her self-professed parental role while simultaneously serving as a public representative, promoting participatory engagement among Americans through her varied campaigns. This volume presents enlightening and diverse scholarship on Michelle Obama's distinctive impact as a "public policy participant," using her own feminine rhetorical style to relate personal experience and African American experiences to all Americans and “contradict and counteract derogatory ideas and images.” Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.