My research resides at the intersection of rhetorical theory, digital composition, and new materialism. Although the sites of my scholarship are diverse, they are united by the disciplinary practice of viewing phenomena--whether cultural, environmental, or digital--through the lens of rhetoric.
DISSERTATION
"Chronologies of Character: Rhetoric, Time, and Ethos" Expected Defense Date: May 2019 While rhetoricians have theorized the relationship between temporality and persuasion in terms of kairos, I argue that attending to the ancient Greek concept of chronos—a sequential notion of time—can add complexity to our understanding of rhetorical interactions.
Chapter 1 uncovers the rhetorical stakes of chronos--as expressed in Aristotle's Physics--and uses the theories of new materialism to extend this concept of rhetorical time to networks that involve human and nonhuman actants.
Chapter 2 examines the ways that chronos reconfigures notions of rhetorical character, or ethos, especially in digital environments.
Chapters 3 & 4 explore the implications and limits of how character accretes over time in digital media and, in so doing, develop a theory of rhetorical-temporal-digital character that I call “cumulative ethos.”
PUBLICATIONS
"Integrating Usability Testing and Digital Rhetoric in Online Writing Instruction" Forthcoming in Computers and Composition, 2018 This project arose from three surprisingly-intertwined experiences: working as a technical writer, designing the online composition curriculum at IU, and writing a dissertation about rhetorical theory. This article contends that, while user experience (UX) testing can help instructors improve the design of online writing instruction (OWI), UX's emphasis on student-users sometimes overlooks the networked rhetorical ecologies in which those student-users operate. This, in turn, risks tilting online composition pedagogy toward neoliberal models of higher education that cater to the student-as-consumer. In response, I propose augmenting usability testing in online writing education with theories of digital rhetoric that view educational interfaces as dynamic and interactive sites of rhetorical exchange.
RHETORIC SOCIETY OF EUROPE AWARD
Best Graduate Student Paper in Rhetoric and Culture (2017) Born out of my dissertation research which questions the primacy of kairotic time in rhetorical theory, my presentation, "The (Re)Making of Kanye West's Ethos," demonstrates how Kanye West’s digital ethos accretes over time in rhetorically significant ways.
I was drawn to the HASTAC community while investigating the idea of "cumulative ethos" in digital media for my dissertation. As a HASTAC Scholar at IU, I am part of a competitively-selected international network of scholars dedicated to digital research methods and pedagogies. I am particularly interested in considering the stakes and assumptions of digital research methodologies.
POSTHUMANISM READING GROUP
While researching the theories of new materialism for my dissertation, I founded the interdisciplinary IU Posthumanism Reading Group in 2018. Our meetings are dedicated exploring the relationship between subjects, objects, quasi-objects, things, matter, materiality, substance, subjectivity, being, and ecologies.