My research brings an affective, rhetorical approach to the study of public culture. Specifically, I am continuing the first sustained rhetorical inquiry into the history and evolution of 911, the US emergency services number, as a racialized disciplinary tool.
Most Recent Publication
In my most recent article, “Caucasity’s Affective Interia,” I turn to the viral case of “BBQ Becky,” one of the first in a string of white folks made infamous for their use of 911 to discipline co-present Black individuals. The phenomenon of “White Caller Crime” and “caucasity,” both coined by Black public intellectuals, become the site of extended public controversy from 2018 onward. BBQ Becky specifically offers a rich case study rooted in white supremacist ideologies of property that afford white women particular rhetorical maneuvers.
Caucasity represents a heightened version of the existing affective inertia that privileges whiteness at the expense of individuals racialized as Other.
Forwarding the concept of “affective interia” provides critics the language and means to name and interrogate how historically sedimented norms and ideologies can precipitate particular kinds of rhetorical in/action. Understanding affects, ideologies, and bodies as entities subject to the laws of motion, specifically inertia, forces attention to the connectedness of various forms of racial Othering.
downloadable here.
for a full list of publications, see cv.
Current Research
A project extending the rhetorical history of 911 is under a final round of review. This essay interrogates the second decade of 911’s history to uncover the gendered and affective history of the transition to civilian 911 operators. I hope the article will be published by the end of the year.
Additionally, I am working on a project funded by the Humanities Research Center Faculty Writing Fellowship at Georgia State University that updates a critical piece of queer theory. Lee Edelman’s theorization of the figure of the child in US politics; my project argues that the Child no longer functions as efficaciously, having been subsumed by desire. A draft of this project will be presented at GSU in Spring 2027.
Previous research
I have had a consistent presence in national and regional conferences within the Communication discipline, including organizing timely panels for conferences. I have been awarded top paper at both regional and national conferences.
Even while non-tenure-track faculty, I have maintained a robust presence in the discipline where research is concerned. My work has appeared in top communication, rhetoric, and gender studies journals both domestic and international.
Myles W. Mason, PhD 