News

Rachel Kushner, Commencement Speaker for the 2025 Rhetoric and Film & Media Commencement Ceremony, reflected on her commencement address and her time as an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley in a June 30, 2025  New York Times opinon piece.

Nadesan "Nad" Permaul has been awarded a Berkeley Citation for 2025.

Here is the link for the Rhetoric and Film + Media commencement livestream.

Please note, this is only available today, Tuesday, May 20 at 7pm. 

A warm and enthusiastic welcome to the exceptional individuals joining our newest cohort of Rhetoric Ph.D. students this fall! We’re excited to have you bring your unique voices, talents, and ambitions to our vibrant community at Cal. Your presence promises to deepen and energize our shared intellectual environment. Here's to a rewarding and inspiring journey ahead - full of discovery, creativity, and academic achievement!

Rachel Kushner is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Mars Room, The Flamethrowers, and Telex from Cuba, the short story collection The Strange Case of Rachel K, and a book of essays, The Hard Crowd. Her new novel, Creation Lake, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and longlisted for the National Book Award, the Pen/Faulkner Award, and the Carol Shields Award.

The Rhetoric Department is pleased to announce that Keoni Correa has received the 2025 UC Dissertation-Year Fellowship for After Destruction.  Keoni’s dissertation, chaired by Professor Daniel Boyarian, argues that if we are to understand the cultural and political challenges faced by present-day Indigenous peoples, we must grapple with the ways these communities continue to be shaped by the historic acts of genocide and destruction perpetrated against them.

Commencement FAQ for Students

Tuesday, May 20 | 7PM | Zellerbach Auditorium

The Rhetoric department commencement ceremony

The ceremony starts promptly at 7pm and lasts approximately 2 hours. 

The Division of Arts and Humanites recently featured an interview with re-entry undergraduate student and Rhetoric minor Orestes Sophocleous on the their website: Between theory and practice: A Re-Entry Student's Experience with Film and Media.

In Memoriam

Rhetoric PhD student Robin Manley's article The Disunity in Genealogy: Foucault’s Anti-Nietzschean Reading of History has been published in Theory, Culture & Society. From the abstract:

Reading Nietzsche against Foucault, this article investigates the conceptual foundations of the contemporary genealogical method, suggesting that Nietzsche may present an alternative – rather than precursor – to the Foucauldian paradigm.

Congratulations, Robin!

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is excited to announce that Professor Shannon Jackson is a 2025-2026 Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar! 

Marianne Constable has been selected to be the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Rhetoric Faculty Fellowship. The award was established in 2024 by two UC Berkeley rhetoric alums — Bettina Duval and Dana Slatkin — to provide two years of funding for awardees to pursue research projects. 

Ramona Naddaff, Associate Professor of Rhetoric and founding director of Art of Writing, interviewed Sonali Deranayigala, author of Wave, the New York Times bestseller and PEN Ackerley Prize (2013) winning memoir about all-consuming grief in the wake of a tremendous loss: In 2004, Deraniyagala was on vacation with her family on the coast of Sri Lanka when a tsunami struck, killing her husband, their two sons and her parents.

Rhetoric PhD candidate p. feijó has published a second book in in Portuguese, Episódios de Fantasia & Violência.

From the publisher, Orfeu Negro:

Faith Enemark, Department Manager & Academic HR Analyst for the Departments of Rhetoric, Film & Media Studies, has received the 2023–24 Golden Bear Staff Achievement Award in the Letters and Science Division. 

We cordially invite you to join us on Friday, October 11, 9-10AM PST for a virtual Q&A session with our PhD Admissions Chair, David Bates. This exclusive opportunity is designed for prospective applicants like you to gain valuable insights into our application process and program details.