Abstract

This thesis used visual rhetoric and analytic induction coupled with cultural interpretation of hermeneutic theory to analyze 42 images of cowgirls and ethnic minorities from 1890 through 2003. This study attempted to answer three questions: (1) How has the role of women evolved in rodeo?; (2) What is the role of ethnic minorities in rodeo today?; and (3) Why are women and ethnic minorities in the roles they are today? Analytic induction established four categories that followed the literature review; however, within category four, a fifth category was discovered. The results of the study found that both cowgirls and ethnic minorities originally were and remain today in subordinate positions within mainstream rodeo. Their roles are still controlled by the white patriarchal culture. Overall, this thesis established that the roles of cowgirls (white and ethnic minority) in mainstream rodeo are as complicated by gender and race as they were during the early years of rodeo.

The results showed the role of the cowgirl moving from somewhat of an "equality" stance to the "sex kitten" role. Although a small movement has recently begun with a return to the “equality” role for cowgirls. Cowgirls are still viewed primarily as the barrel racer or the rodeo queen. They are given little significance within the actual competition of rodeo. The role of ethnic minority cowboys and cowgirls was shaped by their exclusion from competition through Jim Crow laws. Glaring gaps in rodeo history has been found as it concerns ethnic minority cowgirls: women have been almost completely erased from rodeo history. In present day rodeo, ethnic minority cowboys are the faces that are most predominant in professional mainstream rodeo when a person of color is represented. Ethnic minority cowgirls, however, are not visually represented in mainstream rodeo today. This researcher found that since no ethnic minority women were visually represented within categories three though five, this lacuna indicates that ethnic minority women's voices have been lost and, unfortunately, have played little significance in the popular understanding of rodeo as whole.