Malea Powell
FacultyAmerican Indian and Indigenous Studies
Professor
Graduate Faculty Editor
American Indian Studies Program; College Composition & Communication
Biography
Malea Powell is a Professor in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University as well as a faculty member in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. She is the editor of College Composition & Communication, director of the Cultural Rhetorics Consortium, founding editor of constellations: a journal of cultural rhetorics, past chair of the CCCC, and editor emerita of SAIL: Studies in American Indian Literatures. A widely published scholar and poet, her current book project, This Is A Story, examines the continuum of indigenous rhetorical production in North America, from beadwork to alphabetic writing. Powell is a mixed-blood of Indiana Miami, Eastern Shawnee, and Euroamerican ancestry. In her spare time, she hangs out with eccentric Native women artists, poets, and aunties, does beadwork, and writes romance novels.
Research Areas
Indigenous Rhetorics, Cultural Rhetorics, Rhetorical Theory, Rhetoric History, De-colonial Rhetorics, Digital Publishing, Diverse & Inclusive Curriculum Design, Administrative Work as Intellectual Practice, Leadership Development
Education
Ph.D., English (Rhetoric & Critical Theory), Miami University, 1998
M.A., English (Rhetoric & Composition), Miami University, 1994
B.A., English, Indiana University at Kokomo, 1992
Research or Academic Affiliations
American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program Digital Publishing Lab (director)
WIDE
Projects
Word by Word, Bead by Bead: Making a Scholarly Life
“Word by Word, Bead by Bead: Making a Scholarly Life.” Women’s Personal, Professional, and Intellectual Lives in Rhetoric and Composition. Elizabeth Flynn & Tiffany Bourelle, eds. OSU Press. 2018.
Constellations: a cultural rhetorics publishing space
Founding editor. Constellations: a cultural rhetorics publishing space. Editor-in-chief for Issue 1.
Enculturation special issue on cultural rhetorics
Guest Editor (with Bratta, Levy, Riley-Mukavetz), Enculturation special issue on cultural rhetorics, 2016.
Introducing the Conversation: engaging with cultural rhetorics
“Introducing the Conversation: engaging with cultural rhetorics,” with Phil Bratta. Enculturation, 2016.
Making Native Space for Graduate Students: a story of indigenous rhetorical practice
“Making Native Space for Graduate Students: a story of indigenous rhetorical practice,” with Andrea Riley-Mukavetz. Survivance, Sovereignty, and Story: Teaching Indigenous Rhetorics. Eds. Gubele, Anderson & King. Utah State UP, 2015. 138-159.
Our Story Begins Here: Constellating Cultural Rhetorics Practices
“Our Story Begins Here: Constellating Cultural Rhetorics Practices,” with Levy, Riley-Mukavetz, Brooks-Gillies, Novotny & Fisch-Ferguson. enculturation, October 2014.
A basket is a basket because…: Telling a Native Rhetorics Story
“A basket is a basket because…: Telling a Native Rhetorics Story.” Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature. Eds. Justice & Cox. Oxford UP, 2014. 25 pgs.
Stories Take Place: A Performance in One Act
“Stories Take Place: A Performance in One Act.” CCC 64.2 (2012), 383-406.
Courses
WRA 853: Workshop in Rhetoric & Writing
MSU, Spring 2016.
WRA 805: Histories & Theories of Rhetoric
MSU, Fall 2014, 2015.
WRA 872: Decolonial Methods
MSU, Summer 2015.
WRA 891: Writing Workshop for Graduate Students
MSU, Spring 2015.
WRA 891: Oral History Methods
MSU, Summer 2014.
AL 882: Contemporary Theories of Rhetoric
Co-taught with Dean Rehberger. MSU, Spring 2004, 2006, 2012, 2014.
AL 885: Rhetoric & Writing Research Colloquium
MSU AY2004-05. Fall 2013, 2016.
AL 827: Critical & Cultural Theory
MSU, Summer 2011, 2013.
AL 848: Theory & Methodology in Cultural Rhetorics
MSU, Spring 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013.
AL 891: American Indian Rhetorics
MSU, Spring 2012.
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