Screenshot of selfie of Thandiwe Abdullah, taken from their public Instagram account. Embedded caption reads, "Anyways...ACAB" with a black middle finger emoji.
Research
I study how contemporary youth activists use digital media to change oppressive dominant ideologies and offer more liberatory alternatives.
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My work has been published in Rhetoric Review, Peitho: Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition, Teaching the History of the Book, and the University of Maryland academic writing textbook, Fearless Writing: Rhetoric, Inquiry, Argument.
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Awards
ARHU Summer Fellowship ($1,250), 2022
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Writing Programs Award for Social Justice and Antiracist Teaching ($400), 2022
Wylie Dissertation Fellowship Award ($15,000), 2021
Do Good Institute Grant: “Mindful Reading for the Civic Good” curriculum ($1000), 2021
Special Departmental Fellowship ($5,000), 2021
James A. Robinson Teaching Award ($150), English Department, 2021
Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship ($4,000), 2020
Donna B. Hamilton Teaching Award (nominated by student), 2020
Goldhaber Travel Award, College of Arts and Humanities ($400), 2019
Graduate Student Development Award ($300), Rhetoric Society of America Summer
Institute, 2019
Elevate Fellowship for ENGL101 Course Redesign ($650), 2019
UMD Dean’s Fellowship ($12,500), 2017-2022
UMD English Departmental Fellowship ($2,000), 2017-2022
ARHU Travel Award ($350), 2019
Mills College English Alumnae Scholarship ($2,000), 2014-2016
Publications
Starr, Britt. "Wise (Teen) Anger on Twitter: Greta Thunberg Uses “Bio Warfare” to Reshape Oppressive Anger Norms." Rhetoric Review 42.2 (2023): 111-127.
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Kirschenbaum, Matthew, Kari Kraus, Britt Starr and Mallory Haselberger. “Meet the (Book) Beetle: Teaching with Tabletop Letterpress.” Pangallo, Matteo A, and Emily B Todd, editors. Teaching the History of the Book. University of Massachusetts Press, 2023.
Starr, Britt. “Disturbing White Perfectionism in the Graduate Student Habitus.” Peitho: Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition 23.3 (2021).
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Davis, Melvette Melvin, Britt Starr and Katherine Joshi. “When an Essay Just Won’t Do.” University of
Maryland Academic Writing Program. Fearless Writing: Rhetoric, Inquiry, Argument [EBOOK]. 2nd ed. Bedford, 2020.
Joshi, Katherine, Britt Starr and Marina Seamans. “John Oliver Does Inquiry.” University of
Maryland Academic Writing Program. Fearless Writing: Rhetoric, Inquiry, Argument [EBOOK].
2nd ed. Bedford, 2020.
"Futures of Girlhood Studies." National Women's Studies Association, Baltimore, Maryland, October 2023.
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"Thirty Years Later: " Feminisms and Rhetorics, Atlanta, Georgia, September 2023.
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“Reeducating Instagram Publics with Eloquent Rage,” Rhetoric Society of America Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, May 2022.
“Modeling Eloquent Rage on Instagram: How One Teen Activist Uses Instagram Stories to Change Anger Norms,” Computers and Writing Conference, Greenville, North Carolina, May 2022.
“Stakeholders Considered: Addressing Inequity & Supporting Student Learning through Labor-Based Grading Practices,” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Virtual, March 2022.
“Closing the Gap of Scholarly Distance: Transformative Reflections on Researcher Positionality when Studying Women of Color Rhetors,” National Communication Association Convention, Seattle, November 2021.
“Micro/bio Warfare as a Youth Feminist Rage Rhetoric,”* National Women’s Studies Association, Virtual, September 2021.
*Selected as the Sponsored Panel of the Graduate Student Caucus
“What Constitutes Constructive Feminist Rage in Public?” Cheló̱na RSA Summer Seminar at UMD, Summer 2021.
"Decolonizing 'The Human' and Transforming our own Scholarly Dispositions toward Marginalized Bodies in Protest" at Rhetoric Society of America, May 2020 (proposal accepted, conference canceled due to Coronavirus).
“Affective Disruption on Twitter: Affirming Leen Dweik’s Anger,” Computers and Writing Conference, May 2020 (proposal accepted, conference canceled due to Coronavirus).
“Shifting Commonplace Understandings of Women’s Anger in the Trump-Kavanaugh Moment,” Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 2020 (proposal accepted, canceled due to Coronavirus).
“The Letterpress as Campus Makerspace” Roundtable, Modern Language Association Convention, Seattle, January 2020.
“Radical Redesign, Part II: Revising the University of Maryland’s FYW Curriculum towards Social Justice and Civic Engagement,” Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference, Baltimore, July 2019.
“Towards Antiracist Transformation from within White Supremacy Culture,” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Pittsburgh, March 2019.
Conference Talks
Invited Talks
“‘It feels like a hummingbird in my hands’: An Intro to Zines and Zine-making,” invited talk for Dr. Cameron Mozafari’s course, ENGL290: Introduction to Digital Studies, University of Maryland, May 2022.
“Mindful Reading for Civic Good,” invited talk for UMD’s Academic Writing Program, August 2021. Viewable here with passcode: k08R.=%D
“A Room of One’s Own,” invited seminar lead for UMD undergraduate course, “Women’s Writing,” October 2021.
“Resisting Post-Truth Culture Through Pedagogical Interventions,” moderator for a professional development lecture by Dr. Ellen Carillo for UMD’s Academic Writing Program, March 2021.
“BookLab: A Critical Makerspace at UMD,” invited talk for Professor Andrew Ferguson’s course, “Engaging Aesthetics: Brokenness, Malfunction, Maintenance, and Repair,” November 2020.
“New Instructor Orientation,” developed and delivered for UMD’s Academic Writing Program, August 2020 and January 2021.
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“Teaching the Inquiry Presentation Online,” developed and delivered for UMD’s Academic Writing Program, August 2020.
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“Wadjda: Viewing through Frames, Frameworks, and Feminism” invited lecture for FILM280, “Film Art in a Global Society,” Spring 2019.