Adria Battaglia
Seeking Ph.D., Rhetoric and Language Studies
Projected graduation date: Spring, 2009
Email: abattaglia@mail.utexas.edu
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
BA Degree: Speech Communication, Texas A&M University
MA Degree: Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Texas A&M University
Current Research Interests: Broadly, my research interests include the intersections of public sphere theory, the rhetorics of social movements, feminist theories and legal rhetorics. In particular, I am drawn to the problematic practice of First Amendment narratives in the liberal tradition. As John Durham Peters discusses in several of his works, to talk about free speech is to talk not only about a liberal foundation's ethical ironies but about the economic ironies as well. Consequently I hope to focus my research on how free speech narratives work as discourses of agitation and control, their material effects, and the "crises of judgment" in working through such narratives.
What you think makes UT or Austin unique, cool, or "weird": The Austin community always has something exhilirating going on, from festivals and hopping music scenes to lobbying and protests!