Directory
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Susan Zaeske |
Expertise and Activities
My scholarship focuses on rhetoric, gender, and political culture. My first book, Signatures of Citizenship: Petitioning, Antislavery, and Women's Political Identity (University of North Carolina Press, 2003) explores how American women who petitioned against slavery not only contributed to the abolitionist movement, but also renegotiated their status as citizens. In my present book project, Encountering Esther: Appropriations of the Jewish Queen, I am collecting and analyzing examples of appropriations of the Old Testament heroine Esther in order to explain why this tale possesses such enduring appeal. I will approach the Book of Esther not as biblical literature, as it is usually read, but rather as an instance of rhetorical theory which, though conveyed in narrative form, recommends persuasive strategies and rhetorical ethics for peoples struggling to survive within structures of oppression.
Watch and Listen to Professor Zaeske:
- C-SPAN
A Nest of Rattlesnakes Let Loose Among Them: Congressional Debates over Women's Antislavery Petitions - Wisconsin Public Radio
In the age of the Internet, why listen to speeches? - Milwaukee Public Radio
Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire - Harvard Women's Studies in Religion
Appropriating Esther in Nineteenth-Century America - Focus 580 with David Inge (WILL 580 AM)
Signatures of Citizenship: Petitioning, Antislavery, and Women's Political Identity in the Time of Lincoln
Education
- Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1997
- M.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992
- B.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1989
Honors and Awards
- National Communication Association, James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address for "Signatures of Citizenship", 2004
- National Communication Association Public Address Division, Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award for "Signatures of Citizenship", 2004
- Vilas Research Fellowship, 2003-2004
- Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, 2003
- College of Letters and Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mark H. Ingraham Distinguished Faculty Award, 2002
- National Communication Association, Golden Anniversary Monograph Award (for "Unveiling Esther as a Pragmatic Radical Rhetoric"), 2001
- National Communication Association, Karl R. Wallace Award (outstanding young public address scholar), 2001
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lilly Teaching Fellowship, 1999
- Organization for the Study of Language, Communication and Gender, Cheris Kramarae Dissertation Award, 1998
- Women's Studies in Religion Program, Harvard University, Visiting Professor and Research Fellow
Selected Works
Books
- 2003. Signatures of Citizenship: Petitioning, Antislavery, and Women's Political Identity. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Articles
- 2002. "Signatures of Citizenship: The Rhetoric of Women's Antislavery Petitions." Quarterly Journal of Speech 88:2, 147-168.
- 2000. "Unveiling Esther as a Pragmatic Radical Rhetoric." Philosophy and Rhetoric 33:3, 193-220.
- 1995. "The 'Promiscuous Audience' Controversy and the Emergence of the Early Woman's Rights Movement." Quarterly Journal of Speech 81:2, 191-207.
Courses
- CA 181 - Honors Public Speaking
- CA 260 - Introduction to Human Communication
- CA 263 - Advanced Speech Composition
- CA 270 - Great Speakers and Speeches
- CA 570 - Classical Rhetorical Theory
- CA 576 - Principles of Rhetorical Criticism
- CA 675 - The Rhetoric of Women's Social and Political Discourse, 1635-1850
