Angelina Malenda is a PhD student on the Rhetoric, Culture and Engagement track.

Ang studies visual/visceral rhetorics, with a focus on sexual violence and artwork. Her project develops a framework to account for the use of violence in maintaining identity formations as related to gender and (sex)uality. Her research project theorizes the embodiment and affect of creative work produced by victims of sexual assault; Ang argues the visceral communicates experiences in ways that demands the audience’s (activist) participation through affective engagement. This is done through artwork produced by victims, a method of communicating trauma that can support the victim while affecting justice. The project works to intervene in rape culture by expanding the boundaries of what is considered “rhetorical.” Ang’s goal is to expand critical engagement with rhetoric and violence, push imagination as a mode of theory, and share trauma in ways that propel publics into action. 

When she’s not researching, Ang is probably watching a new documentary or taking her dachshund, Marshall, on a long walk!