The Rhetoric and Culture content area examines how communication shapes public spheres, cultures, and identities. Research in this area includes a wide variety of topics, including popular and civic culture, public discourse, politics, social movements, and the media. It also engages with the construction of a wide variety of social identities, including race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, nationality and citizenship, and religion. Rhetoric and Culture’s theoretical foundations range from cultural studies to critical theory to postcolonial theory to classical approaches to argumentation and debate. Faculty in this area have expertise primarily in rhetorical and qualitative methods—including interpretive, textual, and critical analysis, but welcome students with a variety of methodological backgrounds.