Ashley Hall

Assistant Professor
Biography

Dr. Hall is a sophistiratchet Black queer scholar whose research examines Black American rhetorical cultures and their capacity to make and break worlds. She is a rhetorical scholar by training with interdisciplinary specializations in Black rhetorical theory, race and gender studies, and critical media studies. Her research contemplates rhetoric's role in Black people's everyday lives and considers how Black speech communities discursively, culturally, and spiritually envision worlds beyond antiblack violence. These interests oscillate around her investment in Black rhetorical traditions, cultural politics, and media across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Dr. Hall's current research interests focus on Black women's public discourse, ratchetness, and worldmaking as they intersect with questions of agency, subjectivity, and power. Her work examines how Black women like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion utilize rhetoric as an innovative technology to reimagine their agency, voice, and power amid structural violence.

Research areas
  • Rhetoric, Culture, Engagement