Michael Dalebout

Bio

My recent research investigates the role of technology in contemporary American stand-up comedy during the last decade. In general, I research humanity’s ineluctable, agonistic relationship with technology, leveraging insights from many disciplines—including science and technology studies, critical theory, political and aesthetic theory, philosophy, rhetoric, and film and media studies—to understand how our technical objects and practices persuade us. I write about exemplary ways in which people create new structures to ground their personal identity and collective action, especially in ways that confront the increasingly digital, algorithmic, and virtual contingencies of the 21st century.

Each summer, I teach the Department of Rhetoric’s public speaking course. Rhetoric 2 is a six-week workshop-style class in which students cultivate their own speaking style, develop strengths in skillful communication with diverse audiences, and practice engaging others in a variety of situations, through multiple media.