Dr. Roberta Chevrette

Associate Professor

Dr. Roberta Chevrette
(615) 898-2275
Room 206, Jones Hall (JH)
MTSU Box 200, Murfreesboro, TN 37132
Office Hours

Office hours Monday 10-1 in Jones 206. Also available Monday-Friday via Zoom; email roberta.chevrette@mtsu.edu to set an appointment.

Degree Information

  • PHD, Arizona State University (2016)
  • MA, Arizona State University (2012)
  • BA, California State University, Sacramento (2009)

Areas of Expertise

gendered representation, queer, and feminist theory

social movements, identity, and resistance

postcolonial, race, and whiteness studies

public memory and nationalism

embodied rhetorics and rhetorical fieldwork

Biography

Dr. Chevrette is a critical rhetorical scholar committed to examining relationships among communication, identity, and social justice. Her research engages queer, feminist, and postcolonial frameworks to examine rhetorics of race, gender, sexuality, and nation within various media, social movements, and other cultural spaces. Chevrette's rhetorical and ethnographic scholarship has been published in numerous book chapters and journals including Communication Monographs, 

Read More »

Dr. Chevrette is a critical rhetorical scholar committed to examining relationships among communication, identity, and social justice. Her research engages queer, feminist, and postcolonial frameworks to examine rhetorics of race, gender, sexuality, and nation within various media, social movements, and other cultural spaces. Chevrette's rhetorical and ethnographic scholarship has been published in numerous book chapters and journals including Communication Monographs, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Communication Theory, Feminist Formations, and Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies. 

Chevrette has taught a range of courses in rhetoric and communication theory, intercultural communication, critical-cultural studies, and gender studies. By connecting theory with lived experience, her teaching guides students to become aware of, and critically examine, the ways language, symbols, and ideologies shape cultural and communicative structures and practices.

Chevrette lives in Nashville, TN, where she enjoys playing and listening to live music, rock climbing, and going on adventures with her dog, River, and her partner Jordan.

« Read Less

Publications

Chevrette, R. (forthcoming). Queering colonialisms and empire. In I. West (Ed.), Encyclopedia of queer studies and communication. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.ORE_COM-01234.R1 

Chevrette, R., & Pérez, K. (forthcoming). “Loneliness in a beautiful place”: Collaboration as queer methodology, techné, and modality of remembering. In C. Squires, R. Asen, & C. Morris III (Eds.),...

Read More »

Chevrette, R. (forthcoming). Queering colonialisms and empire. In I. West (Ed.), Encyclopedia of queer studies and communication. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.ORE_COM-01234.R1 

Chevrette, R., & Pérez, K. (forthcoming). “Loneliness in a beautiful place”: Collaboration as queer methodology, techné, and modality of remembering. In C. Squires, R. Asen, & C. Morris III (Eds.), Special Forum remembering Dan Brouwer. Quarterly Journal of Speech.

Chevrette, R. (2021)."You fucking deserve HIV": Seeking PrEP information, disciplinary power, and queer technologies of the self on /r/AskGayBros. In A. Basu, A. R. Spieldenner, & P. J. Dillon (Eds.), Post-AIDS discourse in health communication: Sociocultural interpretations. New York: Routledge.

Chevrette, R. (2021). Violent systems and accumulated pain: Embodied feminist solidarities through/across hurt. In A. Hall & R. Chevrette (Eds.), Special Forum: “Check yo’ stuff” allies: A forum on the challenges of coalition building in precarious times. Women’s Studies in Communication. doi:10.1080/07491409.2021.1923334

Chevrette, R. (2020). Blinded by acceptance: Straight fragility, shame, and the dangers of post-queer politics. In R. Chevrette & S. Eguchi (Eds.), Special Forum: “We don’t see LGBTQ differences”: Cisheteronormativity and concealing phobias and irrational fears behind rhetorics of acceptance. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking.

Chevrette, R. (2020). [Review of the book The Twitter presidency: Donald J. Trump and the politics of white rage, by B. L. Ott & G. Dickinson]. Communication Booknotes Quarterly, 51(1-2), 23-26. doi:10.1080/10948007.2020.1780890   

Chevrette, R., & Duerringer, C. (2020). Bros before Donald Trump: Masculinity, bromance, and memetic citizenship in the #BROTUS memes. In J. Rosenbaum-Andre & G. Bouvier (Eds.), #TalkingPoints: Twitter, the public sphere, and the nature of online deliberation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.  

Chevrette, R., & Hendricks, J (2020). Love as a strategy for community and social justice organizing: Invitational rhetoric in “Murfreesboro Loves.” In S. Foss & C. Griffin (Eds.), Inviting understanding. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.  

Hundley, H., Chevrette, R., & Jones, H. A. (2020). Dangerous dames: Representing female empowerment in postfeminist media. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Chevrette, R. (2019). [Review of the book No place like home: Lessons in activism from LGBT Kansas, by C. J. Janovy]. Communication Booknotes Quarterly, 50(4), 172-174. doi: 10.1080/10948007.2019.1691425

Chevrette, R., & Hess, A. (2019). “The FEMEN body can do everything”: Generating the agentic bodies of social movement through internal and external rhetorics. Communication Monographs, 86(4), 416-437. doi: 10.1080/03637751.2019.159078 

Framer, M., & Chevrette, R. (2017). Critical theory and qualitative research. In J. P. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Clark, L., & Chevrette, R. (2017). Thick description. In J. P. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Chevrette, R. (2016). Rhetoric as Holographic: De/colonizing public memory at Pueblo Grande. In S. L. McKinnon, R. Asen, K. R. Chávez, R. G. Howard (Eds.), Text + Field: Innovations in Rhetorical Method. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.

Chevrette, R., & Hess, A. (2015). Unearthing the Native past: Citizen archaeology and modern (non)belonging at the Pueblo Grande Museum. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 12(2), 139-158. doi: 10.1080/14791420.2015.1012214

Leong, K., Chevrette, R., Koblitz, A. H., Kuo, K., & Switzer, H. (Eds.) (2015). Special issue: Transnational Feminisms. Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies, 36(3), 1-199.

Chevrette, R. (2013). Outing heteronormativity in interpersonal and family communication: Feminist applications of queer theory beyond the sexy streets. Communication Theory, 23(2), 170-190. doi:10.1111/comt.12009

Chevrette, R., & Braverman, L. C. (2013). Brothers, fathers, terrorists: Masculine assemblages in Glenn Beck’s rhetoric of U.S./Israel unity post 9/11. Feminist Formations, 25(2), 81-106. doi:10.1353/ff.2013.0018

De la Garza, S. A., & Chevrette, R. (2013). Journaling exercise on the guiding ideals of the four seasons of ethnography. In J. A. Scarduzio, E. K. Eger, & S. J. Tracy (Eds.), Teaching manual materials for S. J. Tracy, Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, and communicating impact. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

« Read Less

Presentations

see CV.

Awards

Top Four Paper Award, Communication Theory and Research Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association, 2022 (Solo Author).

Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award, Tennessee Communication Association, 2019.  

Ayne Cantrell Service Award, Women’s and Gender Studies, MTSU, 2018-2019.  

Top Four Paper Award, Media Studies Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association, 2018 (First Aut...

Read More »

Top Four Paper Award, Communication Theory and Research Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association, 2022 (Solo Author).

Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award, Tennessee Communication Association, 2019.  

Ayne Cantrell Service Award, Women’s and Gender Studies, MTSU, 2018-2019.  

Top Four Paper Award, Media Studies Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association, 2018 (First Author).

Emerging Scholar Award, Critical and Cultural Studies Division of the National Communication Association, 2015. 

Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Graduate Student Scholarship, ASU, 2013-2014.  

To Think, To Write, To Publish Fellowship, 2012-2014.  

Graduate Excellence Award, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, 2014.  

Superior Researcher Award, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University, 2014.  

Outstanding Researcher Award, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University, 2013.  

Top Paper, Intercultural Communication Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association, 2013 (Solo Author).  

National Communication Association Doctoral Honors Seminar Participant, competitively selected and funded, 2013.  

Lattie and Elva Coor Fellowship for Building Great Communities, ASU, 2012-2013.  

Deans Award for the College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, California State University, Sacramento, 2009.  

Department of Anthropology Academic Achievement Award, California State University, Sacramento, 2009.

« Read Less

Research / Scholarly Activity

Dr. Chevrette is co-author of the book Dangerous Dames: Representing Female Empowerment in Postfeminist Media (with Heather Hundley and Hillary A. Jones), released in 2020. The book illuminates the rhetorical work performed by contemporary representations of a specific type of postfeminist hero who has garnered a lot of cultural capital: women who are smart, capable, physically agile and fit, and proficient with weapo...

Read More »

Dr. Chevrette is co-author of the book Dangerous Dames: Representing Female Empowerment in Postfeminist Media (with Heather Hundley and Hillary A. Jones), released in 2020. The book illuminates the rhetorical work performed by contemporary representations of a specific type of postfeminist hero who has garnered a lot of cultural capital: women who are smart, capable, physically agile and fit, and proficient with weaponry and technology. Using rhetorical criticism and critical theory, the book examines a range of contemporary texts, including Kill Bill, Volumes I and II; The Hunger Games; Wonder Woman; Atomic Blonde; Proud Mary; The Bionic Woman; Deus Ex; Dark Matter; and Caprica. The book contributes to a robust existing conversation about postfeminist media, tracing how representation has changed in recent years and engaging with new bodies of theory. 

Among other recent publications, Dr. Chevrette co-edited a special forum with Dr. Ashley Hall from Illinois State University, titled “‘Check Yo' Stuff Allies: A Forum on the Personal/Political Challenges of Coalition Building in Precarious Times.” Together, contributors address pitfalls of performative anti-racist allyship and consider forms of advocacy and praxis for producing sustainable solutions and social change. This forum propels feminist communication scholars and scholars in adjacent fields to engage in uncomfortably necessary conversations that work through the politics of coalition-building at the intersections of power, privilege, and antiblackness.

« Read Less

In the Media

Read More »

« Read Less

Courses

MALA 6070 Focused Study in Liberal Arts

COMM 4320 Persuasion

COMM 3740 Critical Methods in Communication

WGST 3500 Women in the Media

UH 3500 Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar: Rhetoric and the Racialized "Other"

COMM 3300 Communication Theory

COMM 3225 Gender Communication

COMM 2560 Intercultural Communication

COMM 2200 Fundamentals of Communication

WGST 2100 Introduction to Women's Studies