Dr. Chevrette is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Middle Tennessee State University and a queer, feminist, anti-racist writer and advocate based in Nashville, Tennessee.  She is co-author of the book Dangerous Dames: Representing Female-Bodied Empowerment in Postfeminist Media and has published 20+ book chapters and articles in journals including QED: A Journal of GLBTQ Worldmaking, Communication Monographs, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Feminist Formations, and Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies. Her interdisciplinary qualitative and rhetorical research focuses on rhetorics of gender, sexuality, race, and nation and how they are used to de/humanize others. Her current memoir and documentary project, A Ghost Story: Queer Death, Family Secrets, and the Politics of Remembering, explores secrets surrounding her father’s sexuality, his contracting HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, and his subsequent death by suicide. Positioning this narrative within a socio-historical landscape, the project centers on how queer secrets, silences, and cultural pasts haunt us individually and as a collective. This work marks a new phase of artistic and academic exploration, and seeks to contribute to the ongoing familial, cultural, and political work of queer survival.

Dr. Chevrette has taught a range of courses in rhetoric and communication theory, intercultural communication, critical-cultural studies, and gender studies. By connecting theory with lived experience, her teaching guides students to become aware of, and critically examine, the ways language, symbols, and ideologies shape cultural and communicative structures and practices.

Chevrette lives in Nashville, TN, where she enjoys playing and listening to live music, rock climbing, and going on adventures with her dog, River, and her partner Jordan.

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Chevrette, R., & Hess, A. (2024). Humanizing black lives in protest: Emotion, embodiment, and interracial witnessing. Quarterly Journal of Speech. https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2024.2341150

Chevrette, R., Hanchey, J., Lechuga, M., Hess, A., & Middleton, M. (2023). Rhetorical field methods/rhetorical ethnography. In M. Powers (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford University Press.

Jones, S. R., Chevrette, R., McClain, J. B., Richey, P. G., & McCluney, P. C. (2023). Discussing racism in higher education: A faculty intergroup dialogue on white fragility. Critical Departures in Qualitative Research, 12(2), 29-53.

Chevrette, R. (2022). Queering colonialisms and empire. In I. West (Ed.), Encyclopedia of queer studies and communication. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.ORE_COM-01234.R1

Chevrette, R., & Pérez, K. (2022). “Loneliness in a beautiful place”: Collaboration as queer methodology, techné, and modality of remembering. In C. Squires, R. Asen, & C. Morris III (Eds.), Special Forum remembering Dan Brouwer. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 108(2), 180-184. doi:10.1080/00335630.2022.2055124 (authorship equally shared)

Chevrette, R. (2021)."You fucking deserve HIV": Seeking PrEP information, disciplinary power, and queer technologies of the self on /r/AskGayBros. In A. Basu, A. R. Spieldenner, & P. J. Dillon (Eds.), Post-AIDS discourse in health communication: Sociocultural interpretations. New York: Routledge.

Chevrette, R. (2021). Violent systems and accumulated pain: Embodied feminist solidarities through/across hurt. In A. Hall & R. Chevrette (Eds.), Special Forum: “Check yo’ stuff” allies: A forum on the challenges of coalition building in precarious times. Women’s Studies in Communication. doi:10.1080/07491409.2021.1923334

Chevrette, R. (2020). Blinded by acceptance: Straight fragility, shame, and the dangers of post-queer politics. In R. Chevrette & S. Eguchi (Eds.), Special Forum: “We don’t see LGBTQ differences”: Cisheteronormativity and concealing phobias and irrational fears behind rhetorics of acceptance. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking.

Chevrette, R. (2020). [Review of the book The Twitter presidency: Donald J. Trump and the politics of white rage, by B. L. Ott & G. Dickinson]. Communication Booknotes Quarterly, 51(1-2), 23-26. doi:10.1080/10948007.2020.1780890   

Chevrette, R., & Duerringer, C. (2020). Bros before Donald Trump: Masculinity, bromance, and memetic citizenship in the #BROTUS memes. In J. Rosenbaum-Andre & G. Bouvier (Eds.), #TalkingPoints: Twitter, the public sphere, and the nature of online deliberation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.  

Chevrette, R., & Hendricks, J (2020). Love as a strategy for community and social justice organizing: Invitational rhetoric in “Murfreesboro Loves.” In S. Foss & C. Griffin (Eds.), Inviting understanding. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.  

Hundley, H., Chevrette, R., & Jones, H. A. (2020). Dangerous dames: Representing female empowerment in postfeminist media. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Chevrette, R. (2019). [Review of the book No place like home: Lessons in activism from LGBT Kansas, by C. J. Janovy]. Communication Booknotes Quarterly, 50(4), 172-174. doi: 10.1080/10948007.2019.1691425

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(4), 416-437. doi: 10.1080/03637751.2019.159078 

Framer, M., & Chevrette, R. (2017). Critical theory and qualitative research. In J. P. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Clark, L., & Chevrette, R. (2017). Thick description. In J. P. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Chevrette, R. (2016). Rhetoric as Holographic: De/colonizing public memory at Pueblo Grande. In S. L. McKinnon, R. Asen, K. R. Chávez, R. G. Howard (Eds.), Text + Field: Innovations in Rhetorical Method. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.

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(2), 139-158. doi: 10.1080/14791420.2015.1012214

Leong, K., Chevrette, R., Koblitz, A. H., Kuo, K., & Switzer, H. (Eds.) (2015). Special issue: Transnational Feminisms. Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies, 36(3), 1-199.

Chevrette, R. (2013). Outing heteronormativity in interpersonal and family communication: Feminist applications of queer theory beyond the sexy streets. Communication Theory, 23(2), 170-190. doi:10.1111/comt.12009

Chevrette, R., & Braverman, L. C. (2013). Brothers, fathers, terrorists: Masculine assemblages in Glenn Beck’s rhetoric of U.S./Israel unity post 9/11. Feminist Formations, 25(2), 81-106. doi:10.1353/ff.2013.0018

De la Garza, S. A., & Chevrette, R. (2013). Journaling exercise on the guiding ideals of the four seasons of ethnography. In J. A. Scarduzio, E. K. Eger, & S. J. Tracy (Eds.), Teaching manual materials for S. J. Tracy, Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, and communicating impact. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

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2023 Marisa Richmond Civic Advocacy Award, LGBT+ College Conference, MTSU

2023 Anita Taylor Outstanding Published Article Award, Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender. 

2022 Top Paper Award, Communication Theory and Research Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association

2021-2022 Faculty Research Award, College of Liberal Arts, MTSU

2019 Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award, Tennessee Communication Association

2018-2019 Ayne Cantrell Service Award, Women’s and Gender Studies, MTSU

2018 Top Four Paper Award, Media Studies Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association

2015 Emerging Scholar Award, Critical and Cultural Studies Division of the National Communication Association

2014 Graduate Excellence Award, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University

2014 Superior Researcher Award, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, ASU

2013-2014 Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Graduate Student Scholarship

2012-2014 To Think, To Write, To Publish Fellowship

2013 Outstanding Researcher Award, Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, ASU

2013 National Communication Association Doctoral Honors Seminar Participant, competitively selected and funded

2013 Top Paper, Intercultural Communication Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association

2012-2013 Lattie and Elva Coor Fellowship for Building Great Communities, ASU

2009 Dean’s Award for the College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, CSU Sacramento

2009 Department of Anthropology Academic Achievement Award, CSU Sacramento

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Dr. Chevrette is co-author of the book Dangerous Dames: Representing Female Empowerment in Postfeminist Media (with Heather Hundley and Hillary A. Jones), released in 2020. The book illuminates the rhetorical work performed by contemporary representations of a specific type of postfeminist hero who has garnered a lot of cultural capital: women who are smart, capable, physically agile and fit, and proficient with weaponry and technology. Using rhetorical criticism and critical theory, the book examines a range of contemporary texts, including Kill Bill, Volumes I and II; The Hunger Games; Wonder Woman; Atomic Blonde; Proud Mary; The Bionic Woman; Deus Ex; Dark Matter; and Caprica. The book contributes to a robust existing conversation about postfeminist media, tracing how representation has changed in recent years and engaging with new bodies of theory. 

Chevrette's most recent publication, Humanizing Black Lives in Protest: Emotion, Embodiment, and Interracial Witnessing, is a participatory rhetorical study based on analysis of twenty-six interviews with Black Lives Matter protest participants following George Floyd's murder. Co-authored with Aaron Hess, the essay considers the protests’ impacts along with critiques of white witnessing and performative allyship, and explores the rhetorical potentialities of protest for humanizing Black lives by increasing anti-racist emotions and contributing to coalitional interracial subjectivities.

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• Quoted in Giddy article, “How to Define ‘Heteroflexibility,’” March 2023. https://getmegiddy.com/what-is-heteroflexibility 
• Quoted in The Christian Science Monitor article, “Why Americans struggle over the future of masculinity,” February 2022. https://www.csmonitor.com/text_edition/USA/Politics/2022/0215/Why-Americans-struggle-over-the-future-of-masculinity
• Quoted in The Christian Science Monitor article, “Why these men find the phrase ‘toxic masculinity,’ well, toxic,”,” January 2022. https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2022/0131/Why-these-men-find-the-phrase-toxic-masculinity-well-toxic
• Communities Surviving Together event featured in The Tennessee Tribune, September 2021. https://tntribune.com/mtsu-event-focuses-on-keeping-social-activism-alive-in-pandemic-conditions/ 
• Guest on WMOT 89.5 Roots Radio, MTSU On the Record: “Dangerous Dames,” July 2020. https://soundcloud.com/mtsu/mtsu-on-the-record-dangerous-dames
• Quoted in Step Up Magazine article, “First Gender Neutral Clothing Store Opens in Atlanta,” June 2019. https://www.stepupmagazine.com/single-post/2019/06/10/First-Gender-Neutral-Children%E2%80%99s-Clothing-Store-Opens-in-Atlanta
• Quoted in CNN article, “Analysis: Don’t Use the Royal Birth to Trot out a Dangerous Myth,” May 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/06/us/prince-harry-meghan-royal-baby-mixed-race-hope/index.html (CNN US article picked up by CNN International, Microsoft News, KIMT 3 News, and ATT.net).
• Guest on WMOT 89.5 Roots Radio, MTSU On the Record: “Gendered Migrations,” March 2019. https://mtsunews.com/chevrette-gender-conference-march2019/
• Guest on Noise to Knowledge Podcast, Episode 3: “Boobs & Protest,” February 2017. http://noisetoknowledgepodcast.com/2017/02/24/episode-3-boobs-protest/

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MALA 6070 Focused Study in Liberal Arts

MALA 6040 Rhetoric and Race

MALA 6050 Rhetoric and Social Movements

WGST 6021 Directed Readings and Research

WGST 4900 Independent Study

WGST 4500 Feminist Theory

COMM 4320 Persuasion

COMM 4260 Independent Study

COMM 3740 Critical Methods in Communication

WGST 3500 Women in the Media

UH 3500 Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar: Rhetoric and the Racialized "Other"

COMM 3300 Communication Theory

COMM 3225 Gender Communication

COMM 2830 Introduction to Online Communication

COMM 2560 Intercultural Communication

COMM 2200 Fundamentals of Communication

WGST 2100 Introduction to Women's Studies

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