Tristan Graney

I am a PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Composition at Texas Christian University, where my research examines how rhetoric shapes public memory, digital writing practices, and the cultural texts through which communities tell their stories. My dissertation, Whose Country?: Counter-mapping Americana and Rhetorical Amnesia in Music’s Cultural Memory (1968–1975), examines how country music’s political realignment during the Nixon era shaped public memory, cultural identity, and debates over authenticity. By tracing the rhetorical lives of artists and archives across this period, I explore how counter-mapping recovers forgotten voices, reframes cultural memory, and positions music as a medium for political and social critique.

 

Building on this work, my broader research asks how rhetoric circulates across media and technology to shape public culture. I’m especially interested in the intersections of AI and writing pedagogy, memory and cultural identity, and the rhetorical possibilities of embodied authorship in generative AI. Across my projects, I study how cultural texts in forms as varied as protest songs, public performances, and AI-generated writing invite audiences to imagine alternative futures by challenging the narratives we inherit about the past.

 

When I’m not teaching, writing, or writing about teaching, I’m usually looking for undiscovered artists at small concerts or persuading friends that they, too, should start collecting VHS tapes.