Dr Ashley Mattheis

Affiliate, Hillary Rodham Clinton Law School

About

Ashley A. Mattheis is a scholar of communication. Her work brings together cultural studies, media studies, and visual rhetorical criticism, through the lens of feminist theory to explore the material effects of cultural production and consumption online. Her areas of inquiry include the digital cultures of the ‘Momosphere,’ the Alt-Right, the ‘Manosphere,’ and #Tradwives with a goal of better understanding how gendered logics are used to promote racial hate, discrimination, and to promote violence. Her publications include: Atomwaffen Division and its Affiliates on Telegram: Variations, Practices, and Interconnections a report for the Resolve Network, “#TradCulture: Reproducing Whiteness and Neofascism through Gendered Discourse Online,” in the Routledge Handbook of Critical Studies in Whiteness,” “Shieldmaidens of Whiteness: (Alt)Maternalism and Women Recruiting for the Far/Alt-Right,” in the Journal for Deradicalization, and ‘The Greatness of Her Position’: Comparing Identitarian and Jihadi Discourses on Women, a report published by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Areas Of Expertise

  • Digital Extremist Cultures
  • Social and “New” Media
  • Intersectional and Black Feminist Theory
  • Visual Media
  • Propaganda
  • Publics and the Public Sphere
  • Popular Culture
  • Influencer Cultures

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests
  • Gender, Communication, and Culture
  • Cultural Diversity in Communication
  • Political Violence and Visual Media
  • Gender and Extremism (intersectional approaches)
  • New Media and Digital Extremism
  • Digital Sociality
Research Award Highlights Collaborations