Abstract
This thesis explores the dynamic interaction between human and non-human agents in the process and production of writing. In particular, theories on the co-constitutive nature of the human-technological relationship, posthumanist theory, and rhetorical theory are used to reframe first-year writing as an act of distributive agency that always involves people, objects, and their material environments. In recognizing the essential role of “things” in first-year writing, this thesis considers how Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) can be critically conceptualized and utilized as a pedagogical tool by instructors in the college writing classroom. Additionally, this thesis details an IRB-approved research study done at the University of Texas at Tyler which analyzes the rhetorical differences between writing produced by students and writing produced by GenAI technologies. This study examines how writing changes depending on which human and non-human actants are participating in the composing process, how these actants interact over the time-space of a writing process, and how human writers perceive their interactions with material “things” throughout the spans of their writing processes. Ultimately, this thesis positions posthumanism as a theoretical movement with meaningful potential to vitalize composition pedagogies in our current, digital age. The posthumanist understanding that writing is always a dynamic interaction between person and thing has profound potential to make the strange, unfamiliar technology of GenAI more familiar, and thus, more approachable to instructors of composition. Additionally, in viewing human-GenAI writing collaboration as a rhetorically rich and pedagogically meaningful practice that is worthy of legitimization in the composition classroom, an essential bridge can be built between traditional writing pedagogy and our emergent digital literacies.
Date of publication
12-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Language
english
Persistent identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4900
Committee members
Miriam Rowntree, Mark Sidey, Zita Hüsing
Degree
Master of Arts in English
Recommended Citation
Guzman, Bianca E., "Distributed Agency and Posthuman Rhetoric in GenAI-Assisted First-Year Composition Writing" (2025). English Department Theses. Paper 35.
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4900