Alessandra's research focuses on rhetorical theory and criticism, public address, and political theory. She addresses rhetorical constructions of citizenship in domestic and international contexts, researching innovative conceptions of citizenship tied to deliberation and participation rather than nationality. Her recent work explores the idea of European Union citizenship as a model of post-national engagement, focusing on the legal debates for the inclusion of third country nationals as resident-citizens, analyzing this and other political debates through Giambattista Vico's theory of /ingenium/ and other theories connecting politics, rhetoric and imagination. Citizenship is also the subject of her special topics seminar 'Practices of Citizenship,' where students organize and host a symposium. Her article “Public Discourse and Cosmopolitan Political Identity: Imagining the European Union Citizen,” published in /Futures/, was the winner of the Emerald Management Reviews Citation of Excellence Award.
Email:beaslea@wfu.edu
Dr. Earl Smith
Dr. Earl Smith is the Director of American Ethnic Studies and the Rubin Distinguished Professor of American Ethnic Studies, as well as a Professor in the Department of Sociology at Wake Forest University. Learn more about Dr. Earl Smith on our Meet the Director page.
Tania Acuna
Tania Acuna is the Administrative Assistant for American Ethnic Studies. She has been with the department for four years. She was previously employed at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City where she was responsible for the Social Work/Psychiatry Department.