I am a Philosophy Major and English Minor in my third year of college. I have received an undergraduate research grant from K-State’s College of Arts and Sciences for my research project, which I am working on under the guidance of Dr. Lisa Tatonetti. My research is focused on the rhetoric of the “alt-right” towards immigrants and refugees. I will be analyzing different media sources that the alt-right uses to advance its agenda. I will be using critical race theory, specifically Alexander Weheliye’s book Habeas Viscus: Racializing Assemblages, Biopolitics, and Black Feminist Theories of the Human (2014), as a theoretical framework to investigate the discourse of white supremacy espoused by the alt-right. Furthermore, I will be using Jasbir Puar’s book Terrorist Assemblages (2007) to understand the rhetoric that is being used to demonize refugees. My final project will be focused on an article-length paper that I will be submitting to journals and conferences.
— Samuel Leyba (BA ’19)
K-State English 