Cara Marta Messina

Assistant Professor of English

Bio

Dr. Cara Marta Messina centers everyday digital writers and rhetoric in her research and teaching. Her book, tentatively titled Writing Critical Fandoms: Tracing Representations of Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Fandoms, explores critical writing practices in fanfiction, specifically how fans challenge the heteronormativity, racism, and ableism in both the media they love and their own fan communities. The book is based on her open-access digital dissertation, Critical Fan Toolkit (), which received Honorable Mention for the 2022 Computers and Composition Hugh Burns Distinguished Dissertation Award. Besides her work in critical fan studies, she also examines the writing and rhetoric of code through feminist and game studies lenses. Her work has appeared in Written Communication, Computers and Composition Online, The Journal of Writing Analytics, Digital Humanities Quarterly, and other journals and edited collections. She is currently on the editorial board for Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy as well as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Fandom Studies and Digital Humanities Quarterly.

Her teaching integrates digital writing and forms of authorship into the classroom, emphasizing the importance of diversity, equity, accessibility, and empirical research. Before coming to Marist, she taught at St. John鈥檚 University, Northeastern University, and Jacksonville State University in Alabama. She is originally from Queens and is thrilled to be teaching and living in her home state. 


Education


Research Interests and Specializations


Selected Publications


Selected Presentations


Awards and Honors


Media Links

Image of Cara Marta Messina.

Contact Information

Academic School

School of Liberal Arts

Office

Fontaine 212

Email

cara.messina1@marist.edu

Phone

(845) 575-3000 ext. 2665

Website/Resume