K.J. Rawson

Associate Professor of English and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies

K.J. Rawson works at the intersections of the Digital Humanities and Rhetoric, LGBTQ+, and Feminist Studies. Focusing on archives as key sites of cultural power, he studies the rhetorical work of queer and transgender archival collections in both brick-and-mortar and digital spaces. He has co-edited special issues of Peitho and TSQ and co-edited Rhetorica in Motion: Feminist Rhetorical Methods and Methodologies (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010). Rawson’s scholarship has appeared in Archivaria, Enculturation, Peitho, Present Tense, QED, RSQ, TSQ, and several edited collections.

K.J. Rawson is founder and director of the Digital Transgender Archive, an award-winning online repository of trans-related historical materials, and he is the co-chair of the editorial board of the Homosaurus, an international LGBTQ linked data vocabulary.

View CV

Awards & Honors

2021-2022 Faculty Fellowship, Northeastern University Humanities Center
Kneupper Award for Best Essay Published in RSQ in 2018
American Council of Learned Societies Digital Extension Grant, “Developing the Digital Transgender Archive” (2017–2018)
American Council of Learned Societies Digital Innovation Fellowship, “Building the Digital Transgender Archive” (2015–2016)

Selected Publications

Since 2012:

“Living and Dying as a Gay Trans Man: Lou Sullivan’s Rhetorical Legacy.” Peitho 22.4 (Summer 2020). <https://cfshrc.org/article/living-and-dying-as-a-gay-trans-man-lou-sullivans-rhetorical-legacy/>
Co-edited collection: “Transgender Rhetorics.” Peitho 22.4 (Summer 2020). Special issue co-edited with GPat Patterson. <https://cfshrc.org/journal/peitho-volume-22-issue-4-summer-2020/>
“Marie Høeg: Portraits of a Gender Trailblazer.” Co-authored with Nicole Tantum. Journal of Visual Culture 19.2 (2020): 184–196.
“Witness, Bystander, or Aggressor? Encountering Cassils.” QED: A Journal of Queer Worldmaking 6.1 (2019): 87–93.
“The Rhetorical Power of Archival Description: Classifying Images of Gender Transgression.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 48.4 (Winter 2018): 327–351.
“An Inevitably Political Craft.” Transgender Studies Quarterly 2.4 (Nov. 2015): 544–552.
“Coalition of Who? Regendering Scholarly Community in the History of Rhetoric.” Co-created with Patricia Bizzell. Peitho 18.1 (Fall/Winter 2015).
“Archival Justice: An Interview with Ben Power Alwin.” Radical History Review 122 (Spring 2015): 177–187.
“Transgender*: The Rhetorical Landscape of a Term.” Co-authored with Cristan Williams. Present Tense 3.2 (April 2014). Corresponding timeline:
“Transgender Worldmaking in Cyberspace: Historical Activism on the Internet.” QED: A Journal of Queer Worldmaking 1.2 (June 2014): 38–60.
“Rhetorical History 2.0: Toward a Digital Transgender Archive.” Enculturation 16 (June 2013).
“Queer Archives/Archival Queers.” Co-authored with Charles E. Morris III. In Theorizing Histories of Rhetoric. Ed. Michelle Ballif. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013. 74–89.
“Archive This! Queer(ing) Archival Practices.” In Practicing Research in Writing Studies: Reflections on Ethically Responsible Research. Eds. Katy Powell and Pam Takayoshi. New York: Hampton Press, 2012. 237–250.

Education

PhD in Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, 2010, Syracuse University
Contact

k.rawson@northeastern.edu Digital Transgender Archive Homosaurus Website
Address

407 Holmes Hall
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Office Hours

Wednesdays 1:30-3
Associations

Rhetoric Society of America

Courses

Course catalog

Introduction to Rhetoric

ENGL 1160

Introduces students to major concepts, traditions, and issues in rhetorical studies. Explores the range of ways that people persuade others to change their minds or take action; the relationship among language, truth, and knowledge; and the role of language in shaping identity and culture. Focuses on recognized thinkers from the Western tradition as well as writers that challenge the rhetorical canon. Emphasizes contemporary and interdisciplinary approaches to rhetoric interested in the entire range of rhetorical artifacts, with primary attention given to methods of critically investigating texts and their effects.
Opening the (Queer) Archive

ENGL 4400

Delve into rich, quirky, and campy queer archives! From ‘zines to buttons, photographs to high heels, this course invites you to sift through queer pasts as we consider how those pasts are compiled, sorted, and opened up for our use. This course counts towards the WGSS minor.

1973 - Marsha P. Johnson (Left) and Sylvia Rivera (Right) take part in the Gay Pride Parade in New York City (Photo by Leonard Fink, Courtesy LGBT Community Center National History Archive). Image gathered from the Digital Transgender Archive, a digital hub for trans-related materials directed by Professor K.J. Rawson.

Queer Digital Curation

ENGL 7380

Developed at the intersection of theory and practice, this course will introduce students to queer theory in the context of digital curation. Digital curation refers to the selection, organization, preservation, and representation of digital resources; it is largely focused on efficiency, structure, and use. Queer theory, on the other hand, critically investigates cultural normativities related to sex, sexuality, and gender; it often values disruption, deconstruction, and play. A queer approach to digital curation, then, will allow us to unpack the invisible norms of digital environments as we think through the effects of digital tools, particularly those used for social justice purposes. There will be a hands-on unit of this course; however, prior knowledge of LGBTQ+ issues or the digital humanities is not expected––all students are welcome in this course.