Cara A. Finnegan
Contact Information
Office: 172 Lincoln Hall
Telephone: (217) 333-1855
Email: caraf@uiuc.edu
Website: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/caraf/www/
Associate Professor
Bio
Professor Finnegan is a rhetorical critic, historian, and theorist whose current research explores the role of photography in U.S. rhetorical history. Her book Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs (Smithsonian, 2003) explored the role of 1930s magazines in circulating government photographs of poverty. A past recipient of the National Communication Association's Diamond Anniversary Book Award and its Golden Monograph award, Finnegan is currently writing a book on the role of photography in American politics between 1890 and 1940. Finnegan was awarded the University of Illinois Campus Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2006. During 2007-08, she is co-director of the Rhetorical Studies Reading Group, sponsored by the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities.
Curriculum Vitae
Experience
- Rhetorical criticism, rhetorical theory, photography, visual rhetoric, U.S. rhetorical history, U.S. women's rhetorical history, publics theory.
Education
- Ph.D., Northwestern University
Selected Publications
Olson, L., Finnegan, C.A. & Hope, D. (2008). Visual rhetoric: A reader in communication and American culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Finnegan, C.A. & Jones Barbour, J.L. (2006). Visualizing public address. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 9 (4), 489-532.
Finnegan, C.A. (2005). Recognizing Lincoln: Image vernaculars and nineteenth century visual culture. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 8 (1), 31-58.
Finnegan, C.A. & Kang, J. (2004). 'Sighting' the public: Iconoclasm and public sphere theory. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 90 (4), 377-402.
Finnegan, C.A. (2004). Visual studies and visual rhetoric. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 90 (2 ), 231-248.
Finnegan, C.A. (2003). Picturing poverty: Print culture and FSA photographs. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.