Faculty

Professor Daniel C. Brouwer (Ph.D., Northwestern University):

My research interests span public sphere studies, rhetorical criticism, the rhetoric of social movements, and cultural performance. My research on subaltern counterpublics, or discursive arenas created and employed by marginal peoples, involves examination, analysis, and publication of marginal, sometimes dissident, voices. Examples of my research in this area include studies of representational practices by gay men with HIV/AIDS in the pages of radical, underground print magazines and a comparison of mainstream, queer, and Black media coverage of discoveries of women 'passing' as men and Blacks 'passing' for white.

Professor A. Cheree Carlson (Ph.D., University of Southern California):

My research agenda addresses two concurrent theoretical goals. The first has been to foster and extend the critical use of Dramatistic theory as a tool for rhetorical criticism. Specifically, the work of Kenneth Burke holds enormous promise for explaining the process of persuasion in postmodern society. The second goal is to develop a clearer picture of the rhetoric surrounding gender roles as developed by agents of both sexes. Communicative texts serve as sources for images and stereotypes of women now taken as givens. These "givens" then become warrants upon which individuals base their decision making processes. The effects of this process are difficult to discern, and even more difficult to ameliorate. Thus, I have recently begun to focus upon forensic oratory as a source for strategies that are more or less successful at manipulating these images.

Professor Kelly McDonald (Ph.D., University of Kansas, 1998):

My areas of research include political communication, public argument / sphere studies, and rhetorical theory and criticism. As Director of Forensics for ASU's speech and debate team, my interests in argumentation and deliberation are both theoretical and applied. Examples of my research include an examination of Oliver North's failed 1994 senatorial bid, the Clinton administration's deceptive and destructive uses of public deliberation through their failed series of town hall meetings and the exploration of narrative as evidence in academic debate.

Professor Thomas Nakayama (Ph.D., University of Iowa):

My research has focused on understanding public communication/popular culture within larger social relations, e.g., racial politics, sexual politics. In order to expose these dynamics at work, I have also worked hard to introduce the notion of "whiteness" to the communication discipline. I have also tried to develop a critical intercultural communication by contextualizing intercultural contact within larger social relations. Both of these lines of research are closely connected and have resulted in a number of publications that have been widely cited. By working with faculty in intercultural communication, performance studies and rhetorical studies, I have built important bridges across various subfields in the department and in the discipline more generally. By bringing an awareness of the connections between social power and social differences, I have worked to bring a new perspective to understanding communication phenomena.

Other Faculty with Interests in Rhetoric

Professor Frederick Corey, Professor Olga Davis, Professor Clark Olson, Professor Jacqueline M. Martinez, Professor Linda Park-Fuller.