معرفی
Elizabeth Benacka is an Associate Professor of Communication and Chair of the Communication Department at Lake Forest College, where she also serves as Chair of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program. She holds a PhD in Rhetoric from Northwestern University, along with an MA from the same institution and a BA in Communication from Loyola University Chicago (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa).
Her research focuses on the rhetorical functions of humor, particularly satire and irony in civic discourse, and explores how gender and sexuality shape rhetorical agency in the public sphere. She examines topics such as drag and transgender embodiment as arguments about gender conformity. Courses she teaches include Rhetoric of Humor, Queer Cinema, and Feminism and Popular Culture.
Dr. Benacka has authored books and articles on humor and rhetoric, including her 2017 monograph on humor in public discourse. She has presented widely on topics like media coverage of political satire and the rhetoric of civil rights movements. Her academic accolades include membership in the National Communication Association, Rhetoric Society of America, and International Society for Humor Studies, reflecting her interdisciplinary contributions to rhetoric and gender studies.
