Aaron Hess' scholarly trajectory can be traced through two foundational avenues—participatory rhetorical methods and digital rhetorical theory—which offer methodological rigor and theoretical insight into his research. Using innovative methodological intersections between textual analysis and participatory approaches such as ethnography, participant observation, and interviews, he explores the complex ways technology augments rhetorical expression and reception in physical, digital, and hybrid spaces.
He is an associate professor in the languages and cultures faculty group of the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University.
(Select Publications)
Kjeldsen, J. & Hess, A. (2021). Experiencing multimodal rhetoric and argumentation in political advertisements: A study of how people respond to the rhetoric of multimodal communication. Visual Communication, 20, 327-352. doi: 10.1177/14703572211013399
Hess, A., Senda-Cook, S., Middleton, M. K., & Endres, D. (2020). (Participatory) critical rhetoric: Critiqued and reconsidered. International Journal of Communication, 14, 870-884. doi: 1932–8036/20200005
Hess, A. (2020). Je (ne) suis…: Exploring the performative contradiction in anti-clicktivism arguments. In C. W. Winkler (Ed.), Networking argument (pp. 328-334). New York: Routledge.
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, 416-437. doi: 10.1080/03637751.2019.1595078
Senda-Cook, S., Hess, A., Middleton, M. K., & Endres, D. (2018). Readings in rhetorical fieldwork. New York: Routledge.
Booth, P., Davisson, A., Hess, A., & Hinck, A. (2018). Poaching politics: Online communication during the 2016 US Presidential Election. New York: Peter Lang.
Hess, A. & Davisson, A. (Eds.) (2017). Theorizing digital rhetoric. New York: Routledge.
Middleton, M. K., Hess, A., Endres, D., & Senda-Cook, S. (2015). Participatory critical rhetoric: Theoretical and methodological foundations for studying rhetoric in situ. Lanham, MD: Lexington Press.
Hess, A. (2017). Advertising, news coverage, and autoplay. Journal of Media Ethics, 32, 134-135. doi: 10.1080/23736992.2017.1294887
Hess, A. & Flores, C. (2016). Simply more than swiping left: A critical analysis of toxic masculine performances on Tinder Nightmares. New Media & Society. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1461444816681540
Endres, D., Hess, A., Senda-Cook, S., & Middleton, M. K. (2016). In situ rhetoric: Intersections between qualitative inquiry, fieldwork, and rhetoric. Cultural Studies <-> Critical Methodologies, doi: 10.1177/1532708616655820
Hess, A. (2016). Embodied judgment: A call for a phronetic orientation in rhetorical ethnography. In S. McKinnon, R. Asen, K. Chavez, & R. G. Howard (Eds.), Text + field: Innovations in rhetorical method (pp. 86-100). University Park, PA: Penn State Press.
Hess, A., Menegatos, L, & Savage, M. (2015). Shaming Jane: A feminist Foucauldian analysis of how college students employ the sexual double standard in peer interventions. Women’s Studies in Communication, 38, 462-485.
Hess, A. (2015). The selfie assemblage. International Journal of Communication, 9, 1629-1646. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3147/1389
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, 139-158. doi: 10.1080/14791420.2015.1012214
Hess, A., & Herbig, A. (2013). Recalling the ghosts of 9/11: Convergent memorializing at the opening of the National 9/11 Memorial. International Journal of Communication, 7, 2207-2230. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1733/997
Herbig, A., & Hess, A. (2012). Convergent critical rhetoric at the Rally to Restore Sanity: Exploring the intersection of rhetoric, ethnography, and documentary production. Communication Studies, 63, 269-289. doi:10.1080/10510974.2012.674617
Hess, A. (2011). Critical-rhetorical ethnography: Rethinking the place and process of rhetoric. Communication Studies, 62, 127-152. doi:10.1080/10510974.2011.529750
Hess, A. (2009). Resistance up in smoke: Analyzing the limitations of deliberation on YouTube. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 26, 411-434. doi: 10.1080/15295030903325347
Hess, A. (2007). “You don’t play, you volunteer”: Narrative public memory construction in Medal of Honor Rising Sun. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 24, 339-356. doi: 10.1080/07393180701567729
Hess, A. (2007). In digital remembrance: Vernacular memory and the rhetorical construction of web memorials. Media, Culture & Society, 29, 812-830. doi: 10.1177/0163443707080539
Brouwer, D. C., & Hess, A. (2007). Making sense of ‘God hates fags’ and ‘Thank God for 9/11’: A thematic analysis of milbloggers’ responses to Reverend Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. Western Journal of Communication, 71, 69-90. doi: 10.1080/10570310701215388
Spring 2022 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
COM 467 | Digital Rhetoric |
COM 492 | Honors Directed Study |
COM 499 | Individualized Instruction |
Fall 2021 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
Summer 2021 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
Spring 2021 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 492 | Honors Directed Study |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
COM 499 | Individualized Instruction |
COM 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2020 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
COM 792 | Research |
COM 799 | Dissertation |
Summer 2020 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
COM 792 | Research |
COM 799 | Dissertation |
Spring 2020 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 467 | Digital Rhetoric |
COM 492 | Honors Directed Study |
COM 499 | Individualized Instruction |
COM 792 | Research |
COM 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2019 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
COM 420 | Rhetoric & Community Advocacy |
COM 792 | Research |
Summer 2019 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 792 | Research |
Spring 2019 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 308 | Adv Research Methods in Comm |
COM 371 | Language, Culture, &Comm |
COM 492 | Honors Directed Study |
COM 499 | Individualized Instruction |
COM 792 | Research |
Summer 2018 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 230 | Small Group Communication |
COM 400 | Communication in Professions |
Spring 2018 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 308 | Adv Research Methods in Comm |
COM 492 | Honors Directed Study |
Fall 2017 | |
---|---|
Course Number | Course Title |
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
COM 420 | Rhetoric and Community Advo |
COM 493 | Honors Thesis |
COM 690 | Reading and Conference |