Erec Smith

A Critique of Anti-racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment critiques current antiracist ideology in rhetoric and composition, arguing that it inadvertently promotes a deficit-model of empowerment for both students and scholars. Erec Smith claims that empowerment theory—which promotes individual, communal, and strategic efficacy—is missing from most antiracist initiatives, which instead often abide by what Smith refers to as a "primacy of identity”: an over-reliance on identity, particularly a victimized identity, to establish ethos. Scholars of rhetoric, composition, communication, and critical race theory will find this book particularly useful.

This book explores and analyzes the ways fat acceptance activists have advocated through language and tactical action. Using Anthony Giddens’ concept of Structuration in the make-up of ideology, the book identifies how fat acceptance activists use signification, domination, and legitimation to strengthen their cause. Thus, their actions are both rhetorical and tactical. Fat—considered a descriptor and not a negative label among activists—is highly stigmatized for arbitrary reasons in various areas of life ranging from the fashion industry to health care. This books shows how fat acceptance activists work to remedy this situation.

This book critiques current antiracist ideology in rhetoric and composition, arguing that it inadvertently promotes a deficit-model of empowerment for both students and scholars and a "primacy of identity" that values lived experience over critical thinking.

This book explores and analyzes the ways fat acceptance activists have advocated through language and tactical action. Using Anthony Giddens’ concept of Structuration in the make-up of ideology, the book identifies how fat acceptance activists use signification, domination, and legitimation to strengthen their cause. Thus, their actions are both rhetorical and tactical. Fat—considered a descriptor and not a negative label among activists—is highly stigmatized for arbitrary reasons in various areas of life ranging from the fashion industry to health care. This books shows how fat acceptance activists work to remedy this situation.

Get On The Couch: Relationship Advice from Everyday People is the paperback version of the growing relationship advice website. The book presents articles from a variety of personalities as well as actual input from the website's members. The first section of the book, The Articles, presents advice from a variety of characters representing the eclecticism of our society's dating culture. From discussing the merits of dating a loser to the romantic pros and cons of being a sociopath, the rules of attraction are exposed and analyzed in down-to-earth ways for all people to read, critique and enjoy. The second section, Couch Q and A, consists of the various questions and answers posted by members of the Get On The Couch website. Questions about platonic friendship, divorce, and the ambiguity of relationships are all answered by a diversity of members, all using their experiences as advice. The communal feel of the section may help us move from "self-help" to "selfless help." Get On The Couch: Relationship Advice from Everyday People can help you make the best of your love life with insightful, amusing and effective advice for everyday people.

The Lure of Disempowerment: Reclaiming Agency in the Age of CRT seeks to remedy a ubiquitous problem we see in anti-racist activism in the academy and academy-adjacent spaces: disempowerment. This is the tendency to embrace victimhood and label opposing or even altered views as violent and inherently racist. We believe that an anecdote about the experience one of us had when engaging anti-racist academics is indicative of this disempowerment within circles of anti-racist activism. Therefore, we use that experience as a springboard into describing, explaining, and remedying the aforementioned fragility.