TAREZ SAMRA GRABAN, Assistant Professor, (Ph.D. Purdue University, 2006; A.B. English, Brown University, 1993; A.B. Religious Studies, Brown University, 1993), is a rhetoric and composition generalist with special interests in histories of rhetoric, feminist theory, and discourse studies. Her work lately explores various ways of recasting narratives about how the discipline has formed, including women's roles in producing, distributing, historicizing, and theorizing their own texts. In both her teaching and research, Dr. Graban promotes an understanding of critical methods that redefine what it means to do history in rhetoric and composition—especially in archival sites—and an understanding of critical methodologies that equip writers for more informed civic participation.

Her current book project, Irony's Resource, investigates irony as a critical paradigm for feminist historiography, based on its epistemic function in women's political discourse, including the ways it has challenged critical historical methods in rhetoric. Her co-authored book, GenAdmin: Theorizing WPA Identities in the 21st Century (Parlor Press, 2011), presents writing program work as a philosophical stance, thereby complicating extant narratives of the field. During 2011-2012, in conjunction with the Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities at Indiana University, Dr. Graban began developing the prototype for a database that collects and visually organizes metadata on feminist treatises in rhetoric and composition, looking especially at the contributions of women rhetors, rhetoricians, and teachers from North America's Progressive Era to the present. That work has extended to an investigation of digital historical ecologies that are not artifact- or place-based. In collaboration with Alli Crandell, she is considering how best to represent these ecologies. Together with Patricia Sullivan (Purdue University), she is also investigating how advances in digital humanities impact both historiography in rhetorical theory and the education of new historians of rhetoric. Finally, she is interested in understanding transnational discourse and global Englishes as critical lenses onto "multilingualism," especially when it is used as an identifier for rhetoric and composition studies.

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

Book

• GenAdmin: Theorizing WPA Identities in the 21st Century. Anderson, SC: Parlor Press, 2011. Co-authored with Colin Charlton, Jonikka Charlton, Kathleen J. Ryan, and Amy Ferdinandt Stolley.

Selected Articles and Book Chapters

• "From Location(s) to Locatability: Mapping Feminist Recovery and Archival Activity Through Metadata." Forthcoming in College English (Fall 2013).
• "Multivalent Composition and the Re-Invention of Expertise." Multimodal Literacies and Emerging Genres in Student Compositions (Eds. Tracey Bowen, Carl Whithaus). Pittsburgh, PA: U of Pittsburgh P, 2013. 248-280. Co-authored with Colin Charlton and Jonikka Charlton.
• "Towards a 'Second-Generation' Suffragism: Language Politics in the Ironic Discourse of An American Suffragist." Gender and Language 5.1 (2011): 31-60.
• "Digital and Dustfree: A Conversation on the Possibilities of Digital-Only Searching for Third-Wave Historical Recovery." Peitho 13.2 (Dec 2011): 2-11. Co-authored with Patricia Sullivan.
• "Emergent Taxonomies: Using 'Tension' and 'Forum' to Organize Primary Texts." Working in the Archives: Practical Research Methods for Rhetoric and Composition (Eds. Barbara L'Eplattenier, Lisa Mastrangelo, Wendy Sharer, Alexis Ramsey). Carbondale: Southern Illinois U P, 2009. 206-219.
• "Theorizing Feminist Pragmatic Rhetoric as a Communicative Art for the Composition Practicum." College Composition and Communication 61.1 (September 2009): W277-299. Co-authored with Kathleen J. Ryan.
• "Beyond 'Wit and Persuasion': Rhetoric, Composition, and Humor Studies." The Primer of Humor Research (Ed. Victor Raskin). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2008. 399-448.
• "Feminine Irony and the Art of Linguistic Cooperation in Anne Askew's Sixteenth-Century Examinacyons." Rhetorica 25.4 (Autumn 2007): 385-412.

Works in Progress

• Irony's Resource: A Critical Paradigm for Feminist Discourse. Book manuscript, under review.
• "In, Through, and About the Archive: What Digitization (Dis)Allows." Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities, eds. Jim Ridolfo and William Hart-Davidson. Co-authored with Alexis Ramsey-Tobienne and Whitney Myers. Forthcoming with Chicago, IL: U Chicago P, 2014.
• "Humoring the Female Pol: Irony, Consciousness-Raising, and 'Third-Culture' Discourse." Women and Comedy: History, Theory, Practice, eds. Peter Dickinson, Diana Solomon, Sean Zwagerman. Forthcoming with Fairleigh Dickinson Press.

 

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

• Center for Research and Creativity, First Year Assistant Professor Award for "From Locations to Locatability: Enhancing Archival Methods for Feminist Studies in Rhetoric and Composition" (Florida State University, 2013)
• Kathleen Ethel Welch Outstanding Article Award to recognize scholarship and research in the areas of feminist pedagogy, practice, history, and theory, with Kathleen J. Ryan (2011)
• Institute for the Digital Arts and Humanities Faculty Fellowship, to develop "Beyond Recovery: Feminist Treatises Locations Project" (Indiana University, 2011-2012)
• Elizabeth A. Flynn Award for most outstanding feminist scholarship published in field of rhetoric and composition, for "Theorizing Feminist Pragmatic Rhetoric" with Kathleen J. Ryan (2009)
• Active Learning Grant for Course Development of "Women in the Archives/Vandals in the Stacks" (Indiana University, 2009)
• Office of Service Learning Faculty Fellowship (Indiana University, 2008)
• College of Arts and Sciences Summer Faculty Fellowship (Indiana University, 2008)
• Janice M. Lauer Dissertation Award (Purdue University, 2006)