Marcia Alesan Dawkins is a Communication and Cultural Studies Researcher and Visiting Scholar at Brown University. She recently completed my MA and PhD at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. Her research examines political and legal communication, persuasion, racial and ethnic diversity, cultures and subcultures, and, most recently, intersections among these areas with new media. She has taught classes in rhetorical criticism and theory, African American rhetoric, multiracial identity, argumentation, popular culture, new media, and general human communication studies. She is the author of the forthcoming book "Things Said in Passing" (Baylor University Press). Based on her award-winning dissertation, this book develops the first rhetorical theory of racial passing. Her scholarship also appears in The Journal of Popular Culture, Communication Teacher, Space and Culture, The Literary Griot, and Ethnic Studies Review. Her journalistic articles and commentary appear in The Huffington Post, The Kirwan Institute's Race-Talk, and Truthdig’s 2010 Webby Award Winning Political Blog. Her media appearances include Mixed Chicks Chat and Image Magazine. For more information please check out her website: www.marciadawkins.com