Mondays & Fridays 10:30am-1:30pm / Wednesdays 10:30am-12:00pm, 1-1:30pm / And by appointment
Dr. Benjamin Mann’s expertise bridges disability rhetoric, critical/qualitative health and science communication, and social movement media studies. Specifically, Ben studies, through an intersectionality framework, how individuals with disabilities advocate for their health needs using media. He is particularly interested in the rhetoric of Autistic self-advocacy, critical disability studies/crip theory, the impacts of new media and technology on disability, and theorizing disability under social and political models that emphasize “nothing about us, without us.”
Ben’s solo and co-authored research has been published in national and international journals including the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Health Communication, Disability Studies Quarterly, Science Communication, and Communication, Culture, and Critique, and he has presented at conferences including the National Communication Association, International Communication Association, Alta Argumentation Conference, and Rhetoric Society of America. Previously, Ben received a National Institutes of Health-funded research fellowship to investigate the ethical implications of genomic screening on disabled populations. Ben previously chaired the Communication Studies Department at Eastern Oregon University and helped develop new courses in Communicating Health and Science, Communication Research Methods, and Communication for Social Change.
A graduate (BA English, Class of 2014) of Lewis & Clark and former L&C forensics competitor, Ben’s passion for competitive speech and debate and social justice advocacy took him on the path of studying rhetoric, media, and communication. However, his dream was always to return to Portland and give back to his alma mater. In his free time, Ben loves hiking, independent video game design, and catching live music in downtown Portland.
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
PhD, Communication, May 2020
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
MA, Communication, May 2016
Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
BA English, May 2014
If you’re interested in Ben’s courses and would like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to send an email at bmann@lclark.edu
Introduction to Rhetoric and Media Studies
Public Discourse
Rhetorical Theory
Interpersonal Media
Rhetorical Criticism
Disability Rhetoric & Media
Argumentation & Debate
Krall, M. A., Parks, M. M., Krebs, E., Mann, B.W., Maison, K., Jensen, R.E. (2022). Chemistry in the mail: Stamps from around the globe and public science communication in the twentieth century. Public Understanding of Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625211032465
Cullinan, M. E., Maison, K., Parks, M. M., Krall, M. A., Krebs, E., Mann, B., & Jensen, R. E. (2022). Seedlings in the corporate forest: Communicating Benevolent sexism in Dow Chemical’s first internal affirmative-action campaign. Management Communication Quarterly, 37(1), 171–196. https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189221115748
Mann, B. W., Krall, M. A., Parks, M. M., Krebs, E., Maison, K., & Jensen, R. E. (2021). Strategic Place-Making and Public Scientific Outreach in the American Chemical Society’s National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program. Science Communication, 43(3) 336–357. doi:10.1177/10755470211006685
Mann, B. W. (2019). Autism narratives in media coverage of the MMR vaccine-autism controversy under a crip futurism framework. Health Communication, 34(9) 984-90. doi:10.1080/10410236.2018.1449071
Jensen, R. E., Parks, M. M., Mann, B. W., Maison, K., & Krall, M. A. (2019). Mapping Nature’s scientist: The posthumous demarcation of Rosalind Franklin’s crystallographic data. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 105(3), 279-318. https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630.2019.1629000
Jensen, R. E., Maison, K., Mann, B. W., Krall, M. A., & Parks, M. M. (2019). Medicalization’s Communicative Infrastructure: Seventy Years of “Brain Chemistry.” Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2019.1673951
Mann, B. W. (2018). Rhetoric of online disability activism: #CripTheVote and civic participation. Communication, Culture, and Critique, 11(4), 604-621. https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcy030
Mann, B. W. (2018). Survival, disability rights, and solidarity: Advancing cyberprotest rhetoric through Disability March. Disability Studies Quarterly, 38(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v38i1.5917
Lewis & Clark debaters Joe Hykan ’13 and Benjamin Mann ’14 recently won the Pat Kennedy Memorial Tournament, hosted by University of the Pacific and the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission.
Lewis & Clark debaters Joe Hykan (‘13) and Benjamin Mann (‘14) won the prestigious Pat Kennedy Round Robin debate tournament, held November 2 at the University of the Pacific.
Rhetoric and Media Studies is located in J.R. Howard Hall on the Undergraduate Campus.
