Dr. Darrel Enck-Wanzer
Assistant Professor
Office Location: GAB 320 A
Phone: (940) 565-2819
E-mail: dew@unt.edu

Personal Bio:

Dr. Darrel Enck-Wanzer is a scholar of race and public culture with a particular interest in Latina/o studies. In 2007, he earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Public Culture in the Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University, where his work focused on the intersections of race/ethnicity, democratic theory, and public discourse. After serving as an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia for one year, Darrel spent the 2008-2009 academic year as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois. Outside of research and teaching, Darrel is pretty passionate about cigars (in the same way some folks are passionate about wine), is obsessive about lifting more weight in the gym, and loves spending time with friends and family. Darrel lives in Denton with his partner Suzanne (also a professor in the department), dog Sisco, and two cats named Ari and Kairos.

Research Interests:

Darrel’s research addresses questions about the relationships between race, democratic possibilities, and rhetoric in the U.S. He is deeply interested in the way that theories of race and problematics of difference can and do inform our conceptualizations of democracy. Where some scholars ask the question, What is democracy? Darrel prefers the different question, What can democracy become? Framing the question distinctly, he aligns himself with democratic theorists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Furthermore, Darrel seeks to engage what he sees as a paradoxical relationship between race and democracy – a relationship that gets worked out in the various forms of rhetoric circulating in our public culture(s). At its broadest points, though, Darrel’s research addresses one or more of the following topoi: Latino/a studies, race and rhetoric, radical/protest/social movement rhetoric, democratic theory and practice, rhetorical theory, critical rhetoric, and cultural studies.

Notable Activities:

Darrel is currently (2009) the chair of the Latina/o Communciation Studies Division and La Raza Caucus for the National Communication Association. He is on the editorial board for the international journal Communication Theory and has served as editorial reviewer for the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and Text and Performance Quarterly.

Recent Publications & Public Scholarship:

Enck-Wanzer, Darrel. Ed. The Young Lords: A Reader. New York: New York University Press, forthcoming (Fall 2010).

Enck-Wanzer, Darrel. (2008). A Radical Democratic Style? Tradition, Hybridity, and Intersectionality. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Vol. 11, pp. 459-65.

“Radicals in Black and Brown: ¡Palante! People’s Power and Common Cause in the Black Panthers and the Young Lords Organization.” Exhibit in the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Acted as lead advisor for this archival project, a role that included researching and writing materials and co-hosting a symposium at the exhibit opening. Co-directed by Joseph Jordan (UNC), Johanna Fernandez (Carnegie-Mellon), and Charles Jones (Georgia State). January 27 – March 4, 2007. Exhibit has travelled to Champaign-Urbana, IL and Chicago, IL.

Enck-Wanzer, Darrel. (2007). Crafting the People’s Revolution in El Barrio: The Young Lords’ People’s Church. In Radicals in Black and Brown: ¡Palante! People’s Power and Common Cause in the Black Panthers and the Young Lords Organization, Ed. Joseph Jordan. Chapel Hill: Sonja Haynes Stone Center.

Enck-Wanzer, Darrel. (2006). Trashing the System: Social Movement, Intersectional Rhetoric, and Collective Agency in the Young Lords Organization’s Garbage Offensive. Quarterly Journal of Speech, Vol. 92, pp. 174-201.

Teaching at UNT:

COMM 4240: Rhetoric, Culture, & Ideology

COMM 4849: Topics in Rhetoric (as Communication, Diversity, & Critical Citizenship)

COMM 5240: Rhetoric and Culture (as Race in Public Culture)

Recent Awards:

Co-Top Paper in American Studies Division—95th Annual National Communication Association Convention; Chicago, Illinois, November 2009 (forthcoming).

Wells Fargo Award ($5,000)—University of North Texas; Denton, TX. For summer workshop on “Critical Latina/o Communication Studies,” for the 2009-2010 academic year. Award accepted.

Top Paper in Latina/o Communication Studies Division—94th Annual National Communication Association Convention; San Diego, California. November 2008.

Curriculum Vita