Collegiate Affiliation

Rachel Presley is an Assistant Professor of Rhetorical Theory in the Department of Writing Studies and the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota.

As a critical rhetorician with training in cultural studies and political philosophy, her primary research interests engage issues of social movement and resistance rhetorics, (trans)national citizenship and belonging, and postcolonial/decolonial/anticolonial theory. Her scholarship makes use of rhetorical criticism, historiography, critical qualitative methods, and sound studies to assess the ways in which marginality is both represented and resisted, especially from pan-Indigenous perspectives.

At the U, she has taught courses such as “Rhetorical Theory for Writing Studies,” “Intercultural Communication,” “Language Borderlands,” and “Sounds of Social Justice."

Educational Background & Specialties
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Educational Background

  • B.A.: English, Washington & Jefferson College, 2013
  • M.A.: Communication & Rhetorical Studies, Syracuse University, 2015
  • Ph.D.: Rhetoric & Public Culture, Ohio University, 2019

Specialties

  • Rhetorics of technology and digital studies
  • Postcolonial, decolonial, and anticolonial studies
  • Activist and social justice rhetorics
  • Rhetorical theory and criticism