Dr. Annette Harris Powell

Associate Professor, English, Rhetoric and Composition
Director of First-Year Writing
Ph.D., University of Louisville, 2004
Office: Alumni 116
Email: ahpowell@bellarmine.edu

A second-generation immigrant, born in St. Thomas and raised in New York City, Annette Harris Powell received her B.A. from Amherst College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Louisville. A core conceptual theme in all of her work is the rhetoric of place and how it shapes memory in public spaces. Her current research examines the representation of culture through language, images, and structures, expressly the role of statuaries, monuments, and memorials in shaping our collective consciousness and cultural meaning, as well as influencing contemporary discourses. Dr. Powell is on the editorial board of Composition Studies and was a member of the Scholars Advisory Committee for the Frazier History Museum’s exhibit, Spirits of the Passage: The Story of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (2013). Her on-going project focuses on identity, memory, and place in the preservation of indigenous Sea Islands culture. Her writing studies research interests include access, literacy, and place-related issues; specifically, how place shapes civic engagement both inside and outside of the classroom.

Dr. Powell teaches classes in writing and visual culture, public rhetoric, and Post-colonial literature, as well as introductory courses in literature. Past courses include cultural rhetorics and writing, writing as social action, and teaching writing. Although her courses are different in purpose and scale, students in her classes should expect to write to learn, to compose their ideas, and to communicate them through traditional forms as well as new media platforms of their choosing. She serves as Director of the First Year Writing Experience.

Select Publications

  •  “Postracial.” Rhetorics of Whiteness: Postracial Hauntings in Popular Culture, Social Media, and Education. Eds. Tammie M. Kennedy, Joyce Irene Middleton, and Krista Ratcliffe. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP. Reflection Essay. Forthcoming, 2017.
  • “Discourses of Preservation: The Gullah Community and Rhetorical Construction.” Practicing Research in Writing Studies: Reflections on Ethically Responsible Research. Eds. Katrina Powell and Pamela Takayoshi. Cresskill: Hampton Press, 2012.
  • “Access, Identity, and the Rhetoric of the Digital Divide: Re-Thinking Access as Practice.” Computers and Composition: An International Journal for Teachers of Writing. 24.1(2007): 16-35.
  • “Roots and Routes to Agency: Space, Access and Standards of Participation.” Labor, Writing Technologies, and the Shaping of Composition in the Academy. Eds. Pamela Takayoshi and Patricia Sullivan. Cresskill: Hampton Press, 2007. 187- 203.
  • “Conflicting Voices in the Classroom: Students Developing their Own Critical Consciousness.” Practice in Context: Situating the Work of Writing Teachers. Eds. Cindy Moore and Peggy O’Neill. Urbana: NCTE, 2002. 158-167.