Research

My research explores the possibilities of rhetoric and rhetorical education by examining how embodied conditions affect why and how people take rhetorical action, particularly within the institutional contexts that shape access to rights, resources, and achievements. I approach this research space from the cultural location of disability, which reveals an increasing need to critically understand how the body mediates our rhetorical capability—how we use language and other symbolic means to intervene in the situations that matter to us. My work continues to show that inclusive approaches to rhetorical education must take into account how embodied difference and systemic oppression (e.g., ableism, racism, sexism) shape the pathways available to people advocating for change, especially in the situations that affect their lives. Thus, my work seeks insight that might lead to more innovative and inclusive ways of mitigating the effects of what James Bohman has called “deliberative inequality.”

My current and forth-coming publications address these questions in several overlapping areas, including: writing/writing center studies, community-engagement, disability rhetorics, technical/professional communication, and rhetorical theory and argumentation.

Writing Center Studies

“Novelty Moves: Training Tutors to Engage with Technical Content”
Juliann Reineke, Mary Glavan, Doug Phillips, and Joanna Wolfe. In Re/Writing the Center Approaches to Supporting Graduate Students in the Writing Center edited by Susan Lawrence and Terry Myers Zawacki. Utah State University Press, 2018.

Community-Engaged Rhetorical Studies

“Toward a Personally Situated Approach to Advocacy: Expanding Community-Engaged Rhetoric to Parent Advocacy in Special Education.” Rhetoric Review, vol. 39, no. 3, 2020, pp. 344-357.

“From Failure to Inquiry: Three Problem-Solving Strategies for Community Literacy Researchers.” Amanda Tennent , Carolyn Commer, and Mary Glavan. Literacy in Composition Studies, vol 10, no. 1, 2022, pp. 72–93.