Summary
Amy Pason is a critical rhetorician studying dissent from the perspective of social movement and counterpublic theories to understand the ways dissent is enabled and constrained.
She explores the structural, organizational and material dimensions of protest in order to understand meaning-making and identity formation of dissenters. Her approach to rhetorical criticism is as a scholar-activist, in which the aim is to illuminate the possibilities and limitations for agency and effective advocacy as a means to propose directions for future advocacy.
Her recent work has explored the instrumental and symbolic strategies of movement tactics related to Occupy Wall Street, as well as organizing practices of anarchist-feminist based women's movements.
She has recently co-edited and published What Democracy Looks Like: The Rhetorics of Social Movements and Counterpublics with University of Alabama Press.
Research interests
- Social movements
- Counterpublics
- Academic labor
- Democratic theory
- Persuasion
- Argumentation
- Feminist theory
Courses taught
- COM 101 - Oral Communication
- COM 212 - Introduction to Communication Research
- COM 217 - Argumentation and Debate
- COM 404 - Principles of Persuasion
- COM 441 - Rhetoric of Dissent
- COM 740 - Seminar in Public Communication (Publics and Counterpublics)
Publications
- Foust, C., Pason, A., & Rogness, K.Z. (eds.) (2017). What Democracy Looks Like: The Rhetoric of Social Movements and Counterpublics. University of Alabama Press.
- Pason, A. (2017). Phenomenon or meaning? A tale of two occupies. In C. Foust, A. Pason, and K.Z. Rogness (Eds.). What Democracy Looks Like: The Rhetoric of Social Movements and Counterpublics. University of Alabama Press.
- Pason, A., Foust, C., & Rogness, K.Z. (2017). Introduction: Rhetoric and the study of social change. In C. Foust, A. Pason, and K.Z. Rogness (Eds.). What Democracy Looks Like: The Rhetoric of Social Movements and Counterpublics. University of Alabama Press.
- Pason, A., Griffin, T., & Kwiatkowski, M. (2017). Skylar's Law: Memorial crime policy and mediating argument spheres. Argumentation and Advocacy, 53(1), 23-40. doi: 10.1080/00028533.2016.1272897
- Pason, A. (2016). Teaching the rhetoric of protest and dissent. Peace Studies Journal, 9(1), 98-106.
- Griffin, T., Pason, A., Wiecko, F., & Brace, B. (2016). Comparing criminologists' views on crime and justice issues with those of the general public. Criminal Justice Policy Review. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1177/0887403416638412
- Pason, A. (2015). The revolution will not be (food) reviewed: Politics of agitation and control of Occupy Kitchen. In S. Boerboom (Ed.) Political Language of Food. Lexington Books.
- Pason, A. (2014). Politics of care and emotion at Camp Casey. In K. Cole, (Ed.) Feminist Challenges or Feminist Rhetorics?: Locations, Scholarship, and Discourse. Cambridge Scholars Press.
Education
- Ph.D., Communication Studies, University of Minnesota, 2010
- M.A., Human Communication, University of Denver, 2005
- B.A., Communication, Psychology University of Denver 2003