Department of English

My research and teaching are located in the field of contemporary political rhetoric with a primary focus on democracy and social movement rhetoric. I am particularly interested in questions about the relationship between radicalism and liberalism. How and when have radical imagery, arguments, technologies, and narratives shifted or overtaken more conventional politics, particularly in an era of political polarization? My first book, The Democratic Ethos: Authenticity and Instrumentalism in US Movement Rhetoric after Occupy, analyzes legal writing, digital petitions, non-fiction popular press books, speeches, film, viral controversies, street protest, community organizing, mass conference calls, speeches, civil disobedience, direct action, and journalism to develop an analysis of the impact that the Occupy demonstrations have had on democratic political rhetoric. The Democratic Ethos was awarded the James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address from the National Communication Association. 

My current research looks at the realignment and polarization of political issues and rhetorics that have moved between progressive politics and right-wing politics, including free speech, food systems, anti-corporatism, pharmaceutical profiteering, and unions. Advocacy and movement rhetorics reveal how right and left overlapping policy agendas complicate widespread narratives about polarization while also revealing deep divisions around the justifications and tactics for pursuing such agendas. This research contributes to the ongoing rethinking of the relationship between liberal and illiberal political rhetoric in contemporary social movement rhetoric.

I’ve published research related to these topics in journals that include Javnost - The Public: Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture, Philosophy & Rhetoric, Velvet Light Trap, Quarterly Journal of Speech, and Review of Communication. I currently serve as the Forum and Essay Editor for Philosophy & Rhetoric.