2022-23 CLR Faculty Fellow - Dr. Monica Reyes

Dr. Monica Reyes is a wife, mother, volunteer, scholar, and educator. Dr. Reyes earned her PhD in English Studies with a concentration in Cultural Rhetorics from Old Dominion University. She considers herself a cultural rhetorician, and as such, her research explores the transnational rhetorical power structures at work within cultures. Additionally, she employs rhetorical ecology and Chicana feminism methodologies to help deconstruct and trace these rhetorical, networked connections on local, everyday, and material levels.

Your fellowship project, "Shelter Rhetorics: Storytelling within the U.S. Asylum Process”, seems fascinating and relevant in today's climate. What influenced you to take on this project?

The project was inspired by my time volunteering at a shelter within the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas (my hometown area!). This area is located on the national border where the majority of asylum claims are made and where many people seeking asylum wait to be heard. As I volunteered at the shelter, I learned that a person is eligible to apply for asylum in the U.S. if they are able to effectively persuade the government— in writing — about the circumstances surrounding their escape from persecution in their home country. These narratives are vital as they open opportunities for work, education and a pathway to resettlement in the U.S. However, composing these stories is challenging because of cultural, linguistic and economic barriers which disproportionately affect women and families.

For example, recent policy revisions in the U.S. deem persecution based on gender-based violence, like sex-trafficking, outside the scope of asylum. Understanding the composing processes of asylum applicants through a rhetorical lens is significant because, to put it plainly, people seeking asylum are writing for their lives. The book explores how this one non-profit rhetorically supports people as they are telling stories about their asylum experience and how life-changing storytelling can be.

How does the work you do influence what or how you teach in the classroom?

The more I volunteered and designed communitybased research, I started looking for opportunities to include my students in community-engaged assignments. While I lived in south Texas, I taught at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Teaching in this geographical context gave me my first opportunity to design servicelearning courses that culminated in students creating promotional materials for local agencies that work with displaced populations. I designed courses that address structural inequalities that people face. Now at DePaul, I continue to find ways to link the classroom and the community. In a “Feminist Rhetorics” course I teach, my students have analyzed non-profits which perpetuate reductive rhetoric about women’s issues. The class culminates in a proposal of advocacy initiatives that highlight the connections between women’s stories of oppression and larger systems and scales of historical, cultural, and material local and geopolitics. Students in my graduate course, “Rhetorics of Displacement,” work to resist the xenophobic characterization of migrants as burdens on society. By virtually partnering with people who are seeking asylum, students will help them showcase their strengths and dreams through digital storytelling. Such courses help train students to listen to people's stories with context, in order to find solutions to systemic oppression.

Dr. Monica Reyes

This term, we have all female identifying Fellows for the CLR Faculty Fellowship. What motivates you as a Latina in the field of education and research?

After high school, I didn't have a single professor that looked like me. When I was studying for my terminal degree, I read a statistic about how rare it was for Mexican-American women to obtain a doctoral degree (less than 1% of those who obtain a bachelor's degree go on to a doctoral program). This terrified me. However, a fellow Latina that I volunteered alongside encouraged me one day to push through because our perspectives are valuable and necessary. I'm also so motivated by my students! They have expressed how grateful they are to have my experience/ point-of-view in the classroom.

What's something you're currently reading and enjoying?

I'm currently reading The Rhetorics of US Immigration: Identity, Community, Otherness, edited by Johanna Hartelius. I also just finished The Nordic Theory of Everything by Anu Partanen. And I'm always reading a cooking magazine or cookbook.

I know you are still new to the city, what are your impressions of Chicago and DePaul so far?

Chicago is very special. It can be a harsh place; weather and socioeconomic challenges seem to have made Chicagoans tough! At the same time, they are some of the most warm and caring individuals I've ever met. I'm also glad to be part of the ethnic and racial diversity of the area, and I love listening to so many languages when I simply go to the grocery store or ride the train.​