Department of Communication Arts
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Allison Prasch

Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture

Associate Professor

she/her/hers

 

aprasch@wisc.edu

Allison

Dr. Allison M. Prasch is Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. An expert in U.S. presidential rhetoric, political communication, and the history of rhetoric, her research and teaching seeks to understand how U.S. political leaders use words and actions to create and sustain a particular vision of the United States to national and global audiences.

Her first book, The World is Our Stage: The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War (University of Chicago Press, 2023), examines how U.S. presidents used their rhetoric abroad as a persuasive strategy during the Cold War. Drawing on archival research from five presidential libraries, the Department of State, and the United States Information Agency, the book shows how Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan used their international tours — and the widespread media coverage of these tours — to extend the United States’ global influence, expand the reach of presidential power in foreign affairs, and bolster their own image at home and abroad.

Professor Prasch is also the co-editor (with Sara L. McKinnon) of Reassessing Foreign Policy Rhetorics in a Global Era: Concepts and Case Studies (Michigan State University Press, 2024), and her award-winning academic scholarship has appeared in venues such as Presidential Studies Quarterly, the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, the Southern Communication Journal, Women’s Studies in Communication, and several edited volumes.

As an internationally recognized expert in U.S. presidential rhetoric and political communication, Dr. Prasch’s commentary has been featured in outlets including the Associated Press, Washington Post, Newsweek, The Hill, Boston Globe, Politico, C-SPAN, the BBC, and Wisconsin Public Radio. She is a frequent contributor to The Conversation, and has also appeared on news programs in Australia, Canada, China, France, and the United Kingdom.

Current and Future Projects

  • Researching & teaching course on the rhetoric of the U.S. presidential election (Fall 2024)
  • Researching & writing a rhetorical history of the U.S. Capitol City (1789 – 1815), with specific emphasis on the relationship between race, place, and national identity
  • Ongoing study of U.S. presidential foreign policy rhetoric, with a particular focus on representations of space/place

Education

  • Ph.D. Communication Studies (Rhetoric), University of Minnesota, 2016
  • M.A. Communication Studies (Rhetoric), University of Minnesota, 2011

Honors/Awards

Books

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Book Chapters

  • 2019. “Reading the Presidency In Situ: Obama in Cuba and the Significance of Place in U.S. Presidential Public Address.” Reading the Presidency: Advances in Presidential Rhetoric, Stephen J. Heidt and Mary E. Stuckey, eds. New York: Peter Lang, 44-64.
  • 2018. “The Two Madam Secretaries: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Elizabeth McCord, and Mimetic Representations of 21st Century Feminism.” Women, Feminism, and Pop Politics:From “Bitch” to “Badass” and Beyond, Karrin Vasby Anderson, ed. New York: Peter Lang, 223-244.

Selected Lectures, Media Appearances, & Public Scholarship

Courses Taught

  • CA 360 – Introduction to Rhetoric in Politics and Culture
  • CA 369 – Rhetoric of the US Presidential Election
  • CA 610 – Theoretical Advances in US Presidential Discourse
  • CA 610 – U.S. Presidential Rhetoric & Foreign Policy
  • CA 610 – Rhetoric of the Cold War
  • CA 610 – Foreign Policy Rhetorics in a Global Era
  • CA 969 – Rhetorics of Race, Place, and National Identity
  • CA 969 – Rhetorical Historiography

Curriculum Vitae