معرفی
Christa J. Olson is a Professor & Department Chair in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, holding the endowed Marjorie and Lorin Tiefenthaler Professorship. She specializes in rhetorical history, visual culture, and Latin American studies, with a focus on public memory, coloniality, and transnationalism. Her work interrogates how visual and textual artifacts shape national identities and public discourse.
Dr. Olson holds a Ph.D. in English & Writing Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2010), an M.A. in Performance Studies from New York University (2001), and a B.A. in Arts & Social Justice from St. Olaf College (2000). Her research emphasizes methodological pedagogy, particularly in analyzing contradictions within national identity formations.
Her recent publications include American Magnitude: Hemispheric Vision and Public Feeling in the United States (2021) and Constitutive Visions: Indigeneity and Commonplaces of National Identity in Republican Ecuador (2014). Her work explores how visual rhetoric in art, film, and public spaces constructs narratives of national greatness while exposing colonialist and exclusionary frameworks. Recent articles address intersectional critiques of racism and the rhetorical work of material objects in sites like Machu Picchu.
Olson received an Honorable Mention for the 2025 CCCC Braddock Award for her article co-authored with Christopher Castillo. Her research consistently bridges rhetorical theory with critical race and postcolonial studies, advocating for scholarly practices that destabilize hegemonic narratives.
Her teaching focuses on graduate and undergraduate courses in visual culture, research methods, and rhetorical history. She mentors students in analyzing diverse persuasive artifacts—images, speeches, performances—through interdisciplinary lenses.
