Aaron Hess
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Phone: 602-496-0652
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AZCNTR 386B Mail Code: 0520 Phoenix, AZ 85004
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Mail code: 0320Campus: Dtphx
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Aaron Hess' scholarly trajectory can be traced through two foundational avenues—participatory rhetorical methods and digital rhetorical theory—which offer methodological rigor and theoretical insight into his research. Using innovative methodological intersections between textual analysis and participatory approaches such as ethnography, participant observation, and interviews, he explores the complex ways technology augments rhetorical expression and reception in physical, digital, and hybrid spaces.
Recently, Professor Hess completed a Fulbright Grant in Bergen, Norway exploring the relationship between ethos, culture, and technology. His project aims to investigate relationships between credibility, trust, and expertise with culture, inquiring into why certain public messaging is effective for one culture but not for another. He will also be exploring the ways that ethos and credibility can be understood in digital contexts, which provide a backdrop and conduit for the spread of information, misinformation, and disinformation.
He is an associate professor in the School of Applied Sciences and Arts within the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University.
- Ph.D. Communication, Arizona State University 2008
- M.A. Communication Studies, California State University-Chico 2003
- B.A. Communication Studies, California State University-Chico 2001
(Select Publications)
Kjeldsen, J. & Hess, A. (2021). Experiencing multimodal rhetoric and argumentation in political advertisements: A study of how people respond to the rhetoric of multimodal communication. Visual Communication, 20, 327-352. doi: 10.1177/14703572211013399
Hess, A., Senda-Cook, S., Middleton, M. K., & Endres, D. (2020). (Participatory) critical rhetoric: Critiqued and reconsidered. International Journal of Communication, 14, 870-884. doi: 1932–8036/20200005
Hess, A. (2020). Je (ne) suis…: Exploring the performative contradiction in anti-clicktivism arguments. In C. W. Winkler (Ed.), Networking argument (pp. 328-334). New York: Routledge.
Chevrette, R. & Hess, A. (2019). “The FEMEN body can do everything”: Generating the agentic bodies of social movement through internal and external rhetorics. Communication Monographs, 86, 416-437. doi: 10.1080/03637751.2019.1595078
Senda-Cook, S., Hess, A., Middleton, M. K., & Endres, D. (2018). Readings in rhetorical fieldwork. New York: Routledge.
Booth, P., Davisson, A., Hess, A., & Hinck, A. (2018). Poaching politics: Online communication during the 2016 US Presidential Election. New York: Peter Lang.
Hess, A. & Davisson, A. (Eds.) (2017). Theorizing digital rhetoric. New York: Routledge.
Middleton, M. K., Hess, A., Endres, D., & Senda-Cook, S. (2015). Participatory critical rhetoric: Theoretical and methodological foundations for studying rhetoric in situ. Lanham, MD: Lexington Press.
Hess, A. (2017). Advertising, news coverage, and autoplay. Journal of Media Ethics, 32, 134-135. doi: 10.1080/23736992.2017.1294887
Hess, A. & Flores, C. (2016). Simply more than swiping left: A critical analysis of toxic masculine performances on Tinder Nightmares. New Media & Society. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/1461444816681540
Endres, D., Hess, A., Senda-Cook, S., & Middleton, M. K. (2016). In situ rhetoric: Intersections between qualitative inquiry, fieldwork, and rhetoric. Cultural Studies <-> Critical Methodologies, doi: 10.1177/1532708616655820
Hess, A. (2016). Embodied judgment: A call for a phronetic orientation in rhetorical ethnography. In S. McKinnon, R. Asen, K. Chavez, & R. G. Howard (Eds.), Text + field: Innovations in rhetorical method (pp. 86-100). University Park, PA: Penn State Press.
Hess, A., Menegatos, L, & Savage, M. (2015). Shaming Jane: A feminist Foucauldian analysis of how college students employ the sexual double standard in peer interventions. Women’s Studies in Communication, 38, 462-485.
Hess, A. (2015). The selfie assemblage. International Journal of Communication, 9, 1629-1646. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3147/1389
Chevrette, R., & Hess, A. (2015). Unearthing the Native past: Citizen archaeology and modern (non)belonging at the Pueblo Grande Museum. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 12, 139-158. doi: 10.1080/14791420.2015.1012214
Hess, A., & Herbig, A. (2013). Recalling the ghosts of 9/11: Convergent memorializing at the opening of the National 9/11 Memorial. International Journal of Communication, 7, 2207-2230. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1733/997
Herbig, A., & Hess, A. (2012). Convergent critical rhetoric at the Rally to Restore Sanity: Exploring the intersection of rhetoric, ethnography, and documentary production. Communication Studies, 63, 269-289. doi:10.1080/10510974.2012.674617
Hess, A. (2011). Critical-rhetorical ethnography: Rethinking the place and process of rhetoric. Communication Studies, 62, 127-152. doi:10.1080/10510974.2011.529750
Hess, A. (2009). Resistance up in smoke: Analyzing the limitations of deliberation on YouTube. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 26, 411-434. doi: 10.1080/15295030903325347
Hess, A. (2007). “You don’t play, you volunteer”: Narrative public memory construction in Medal of Honor Rising Sun. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 24, 339-356. doi: 10.1080/07393180701567729
Hess, A. (2007). In digital remembrance: Vernacular memory and the rhetorical construction of web memorials. Media, Culture & Society, 29, 812-830. doi: 10.1177/0163443707080539
Brouwer, D. C., & Hess, A. (2007). Making sense of ‘God hates fags’ and ‘Thank God for 9/11’: A thematic analysis of milbloggers’ responses to Reverend Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. Western Journal of Communication, 71, 69-90. doi: 10.1080/10570310701215388
Courses
2025 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 430 | Leadership Group Communication |
COM 467 | Digital Rhetoric |
COM 499 | Individualized Instruction |
2024 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 430 | Leadership Group Communication |
COM 467 | Digital Rhetoric |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 430 | Leadership Group Communication |
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
COM 420 | Rhetoric & Community Advocacy |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 494 | Special Topics |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 492 | Honors Directed Study |
COM 499 | Individualized Instruction |
COM 467 | Digital Rhetoric |
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
2021 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 494 | Special Topics |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 799 | Dissertation |
COM 492 | Honors Directed Study |
COM 499 | Individualized Instruction |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 792 | Research |
COM 799 | Dissertation |
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
2020 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 799 | Dissertation |
COM 792 | Research |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
COM 494 | Special Topics |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 792 | Research |
COM 799 | Dissertation |
COM 492 | Honors Directed Study |
COM 499 | Individualized Instruction |
COM 467 | Digital Rhetoric |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
COM 792 | Research |
COM 207 | Intro to Communication Inquiry |
COM 100 | Intro to Human Communication |
COM 420 | Rhetoric & Community Advocacy |