Jennifer Nish

Portrait of Jennifer in a green sweater.

Contact

jmnish@mtu.edu
Walker 304

Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition
Academy of Teaching Excellence

Ph.D., English, University of Kansas
B.A., English & Psychology, University of Nebraska at Lincoln

Biography

Dr. Nish's research engages with the ways that rhetorical practices and systems of power intersect, especially in relation to activist rhetoric that circulates digitally and transnationally. Her book, Activist Literacies: Transnational Feminisms and Social Media Rhetorics argues that students, researchers, and members of the public need more robust concepts and frameworks for understanding and engaging with activism. The book provides concepts and tools that readers can use to meet this need.

Her ongoing research projects focus on three areas: transnational feminist rhetorical studies; rhetorics of disability and chronic illness; and writing studies.

Book

Activist Literacies

Research Interests

transnational feminism
activist rhetoric
disability & chronic illness
digital media
writing studies
rhetorical genre studies

Recent Publications

Nish, Jennifer. “Why ME and Long Covid Communities Need Disability Justice.” Introduction to Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies: Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches (3rd Edition), Eds. L. Ayu Saraswati, Barbara L. Shaw, and Heather Rellihan. Oxford University Press. (In press.)
Nish, Jennifer. “Nothing about Us Without Us: Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM) and the Challenge of Designing Activism for People with ME and Long Covid.” Designing for Social Justice: Community-Engaged Approaches to Technical and Professional Communication, Edited by Jialei Jiang and Jason Tham. Routledge. 2025
Al-Khateeb, Mais, Sweta Baniya, Rebecca Dingo, and Jennifer Nish. “The Necessity and Urgency of Transnational Feminist Politics for Rhetorical Studies.”
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminist Rhetoric. Eds. Jacqueline Rhodes and Suban Nur Cooley. Routledge. 2024.
Bastian, Heather, and Jennifer Nish. “Toward Disruptive Agency.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 75, no. 2, 2023.
Hsu, V. Jo and Jennifer Nish. "Crip Letters: Storying Slowness and Re/Writing Academic Work." College Composition and Communication, vol. 75, no. 1, 2023.
Nish, Jennifer. Activist Literacies: Transnational Feminisms and Social Media Rhetorics. University of South Carolina Press, 2022.
Nish, Jennifer, Kimberly A. Williams, and L. Ayu Saraswati. "Marching and Crossing Borders: A Transnational Conversation." Feminist and Queer Theories: A Transnational Reader, eds. L. Ayu Saraswati and Barbara Shaw. Oxford University Press. 2020.

Recent Presentations

“Mentorship, Interdependence, and Sustainability.” Panel presentation, Feminisms and Rhetorics, Durham, NH. (2025)
“Critical Reading and Research: Results from an Empirical Comparison of Source-Based Assignments in First-Year Writing” with D-Jay Bidwell, Holly Hassel, Elizabeth Novotny, and Cornelius Suom-Kogle. Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA) Conference. Virtual. (2025)
“More than Just Rhetoric: Decolonial and Transnational Approaches to Rhetorical Studies.” Roundtable participant. Rhetoric Society of America, Denver, CO. (2024)
“Movement Rhetoric/Rhetoric’s Movements.” Roundtable participant. Rhetoric Society of America, Denver, CO. (2024)
"Making Publishing in Peitho Transparent," Feminisms and Rhetorics, Atlanta, GA. (2023)
"A Transnational Feminist Rhetorical Approach to Disability Justice," Feminisms and Rhetorics, Atlanta, GA. (2023)
"Transnational Feminism and Disability Justice in Chronic Disease Activism," Rhetoric in Society (Rhetoric Society of Europe), Tübingen, Germany. (2023)

Courses Taught at Michigan Tech

Graduate
- Disability Studies and Disability Justice
Undergraduate
- Composition
- Advanced Composition
- Rhetoric of Science and Technology