Reality Bites

Fake news, alternative facts, post truth—terms all too familiar to anyone in U.S. political culture and concepts at the core of Dana L. Cloud’s new book, Reality Bites, which explores truth claims in contemporary political rhetoric in the face of widespread skepticism regarding the utility, ethics, and viability of an empirical standard for political truths. Cloud observes how appeals to truth often assume—mistakenly—that it is a matter of simple representation of facts. However, since neither fact-checking nor “truthiness” can respond meaningfully to this problem, she argues for a rhetorical realism—the idea that communicators can bring knowledge from particular perspectives and experiences into the domain of common sense. Through a series of case studies—including the PolitiFact fact-checking project, the Planned Parenthood “selling baby parts” scandal, the Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden cases, Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos, the rhetoric of Thomas Paine and the American Revolution, and the Black Lives Matter movement—Cloud advocates for the usefulness of narrative, myth, embodiment, affect, and spectacle in creating accountability in contemporary U.S. political rhetoric. If dominant reality “bites”—in being oppressive and exploitative—it is time, Cloud argues, for those in the reality-based community to “bite back.

Reality Bites

Fake news, alternative facts, post truth—terms all too familiar to anyone in U.S. political culture and concepts at the core of Dana L. Cloud’s new book, Reality Bites, which explores truth claims in contemporary political rhetoric in the face of widespread skepticism regarding the utility, ethics, and viability of an empirical standard for political truths. Cloud observes how appeals to truth often assume—mistakenly—that it is a matter of simple representation of facts. However, since neither fact-checking nor “truthiness” can respond meaningfully to this problem, she argues for a rhetorical realism—the idea that communicators can bring knowledge from particular perspectives and experiences into the domain of common sense. Through a series of case studies—including the PolitiFact fact-checking project, the Planned Parenthood “selling baby parts” scandal, the Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden cases, Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos, the rhetoric of Thomas Paine and the American Revolution, and the Black Lives Matter movement—Cloud advocates for the usefulness of narrative, myth, embodiment, affect, and spectacle in creating accountability in contemporary U.S. political rhetoric. If dominant reality “bites”—in being oppressive and exploitative—it is time, Cloud argues, for those in the reality-based community to “bite back.

Doing democracy, engaging the material: Employee participation and labour activity in an age of market globalization

This colloquy results froma series of discussions between the authors concerning issues of (a) the status of labor activity in organizational communication study, (b) the dimensions of and prospects for workplace democracy in practice, and (c) the need for the discipline of communication to attend more seriously to the material world. The authors write this essay using three voices: each of theirs plus a joint expression of interests. Above all, this conversation seeks to strengthen engagement of possibilities for robust democratic practices in the work of today's globalizing market economy and to challenge communication scholars to see economic and labor phenomena as more than can be perceived through the lens of unbridled discursive and symbolic constructionism. Although this essay ranges across questions of ontological status, epistemological choices, disciplinary mythos, and theoretical preferences, it is ultimately practical with a call for (organizational) communication scholars and activists to engage the misguided pursuits, injustices, and hopes surrounding contemporary corporate-consumer capitalism

Victimage in the World Heath Organization’s HIV/AIDS Controversy Approved by Supervising Committee:

To Mom: for tricking me into going to college. Acknowledgements I would like to first thank my advisor, Dana Cloud, for her unwavering patience, thoughtful advice, and priceless feedback. Without your invaluable help I would not have been able to finish this project. Your ability to hold composure through uncomfortable crying is much appreciated. My procrastination was held at bay because of the incredible speed at which you work. By the way, there is no comma before “which ” in the previous sentence because it is an essential clause, which I learned through your continuous insistence that I consult www.grammarbook.com. I thank you for laughing alongside me and not at me when I referred to the government as “the man ” in an early draft of a chapter. I am also deeply indebted to my thesis reader, Barry Brummett, who inspires me not only to write emails in iambic pentameter, but also offered incredibly wise and much needed advice on this project. I would also like to thank my roommate and colleague, Katelyn Wood, for completing her thesis one month early and forcing me to feel the sweet burn of my procrastination. Sharing laundry detergent with you has been a delight over the last two years. Special thanks go to Matt Morris, Kristin Stimpson and Tiara Naputi for their quirky encouragement. I thank my family, for supporting me even when they do not what they are supporting me for. Finally, special thanks are reserved for Bryan McCann, who has been instrumental in keeping my head above water throughout this process. You still don’t know you’re amazing

Stephen John HartnettContesting the Mark of Criminality: Resistance and Ideology in

To the heroic families of Texas’s death row. They are the inspiration for this project and the heart of a movement. Acknowledgements As a materialist, I believe that all texts are conditioned by relationships. Indeed, completing this project would have been impossible were it not for my connection to a wide range of people. I am especially indebted to my talented dissertation committee. Dana Cloud, in addition to being a wise and dedicated advisor, is a dear friend and comrade. Her example and mentorship are constant reminders that scholarship should emerge from the concrete struggles of ordinary people and that while it is important to interpret the world; the point is ultimately to change it. In addition to helping cultivate a supportive and challenging environment as department chair at the University of Texas, Barry Brummett has helped me develop a deeper appreciation for the artistry of criticism and what it means to “get inside ” a text. Jennifer Fuller agreed to join this project in spite of having never met me or taught me in class. By challenging me to listen and read broadly as I engaged the vast terrain of hip-hop, she helped make this a more honest and rigorous project. I am eternally grateful to Joshua Gunn for always training his student

Nationalism in Post-9/11 America

To tolerant and loving workers everywhere … Acknowledgements I owe the outcome of this process to the assistance of many people. My family, friends, mentors, and colleagues, have been invaluable assets to my personal and intellectual growth. I would like to thank first my advisor, Dana Cloud. Her questions have guided me, her commitments inspired me, and her love has kept me motivated to carry on my own curiosities. I am happy to forever call you my mentor and friend. I am also indebted to my committee: Barry Brummett, Rick Cherwitz, Sharon Jarvis, and Mary Celeste Kearney. All of these scholars have shown immense kindness to me, and in the process, spurred me to better and more interesting questions. In addition, I owe many thanks to Alan DeSantis, Rosa Eberly, Ron Greene, Susan Morgan and Tyler Harrison, for their mentoring advice and support. My colleagues and friends are an inherent component of the thoughts within this dissertation. I do believe that my questions emerge from a blending of their insight with my curiosities. Angela Aguayo, Kristen Hoerl, and Caroline Rankin have been my intellectual and interpersonal family. They, along with Jessica Moore, Katie Feyh, Ti