The American University of Paris (AUP)

Faculty Member, Department of Global Communications

Associate Professor and Chair, Director MA Program in Global Communication and Civil Society

About

My background is in cultural media studies and political communication (especially rhetorical studies), educated at U. of KS (BA Honors English and French), University of Illinois (MA Cultural Studies/Communication), and Northwestern University (Rhetoric and Public culture, concentrations in political theory, social theory, and political communication).
Currently I'm finishing a book on new media culture and politics, especially the role of rumor at that interface, which I call "The Rumor Bomb," based on the theory by that name developed in several articles listed under papers.

Other work I've done recently is on French postcolonialism and media representations of the 2005 banlieue riots and political discourse about them; as well as a study of new media cultural productions about them. Both look at frames and narratives of French Republican citizenship, its categorical denial of race, and yet its theoretical, historical, and practical dependence on the category it cannot pronounce.
I have a paper I'm revising with Waddick Doyle on a theory of politics and branding, bringing together a critical reading of 20th century political public relations and information warfare with the rise of branding in advertising and culture generally.
I also work on the history of economic rights discourses, relationships between theories of economics, democracy, and political freedom (see articles published on this subject under papers).
Finally, I write widely on music and film, especially for Popmatters.
Much of my teaching revolves around critical studies of public spheres, convergence culture/new media and politics, communication and citizenship, globalization, communication theory and research methods, and advocacy and transnational social movements.