Derek Buescher

Derek Buescher’s work focuses on media criticism and representations of public memory, with special attention to narratives of gender, race, and empire. His work also includes the discussion of contemporary (film and television) and historical (WWII comic books) representation of torture as an acceptable post-9/11 practice. He co-wrote a chapter in the book The 10 Cent War: Comic Books, Propaganda, and World War 11 (2017) about Wonder Woman’s origins during the war; the public’s need for a sense of security at the time; and her embodiment of "American exceptionalism" which enabled her to use extraordinary measures, including torture, in the protection of the nation. Buescher teaches classes on imperialism and cinema, media studies, forensics, gender, cultural theory, Disney, and communication. In China he has been training students and teachers in debating skills. Other book chapters include “Educational Convergences: The Potential Relationships between Parliamentary and Policy Debate Communities,” in Navigating Opportunity: Policy Debate in the 21st Century (2010) and "Exceptional Torture: Torture Imagery as Neocolonial Rhetoric," in Communicating Colonialism: Readings on Postcolonial Theory(s) and Communication (2014). He was honored with an Award of Recognition: Outstanding Contribution to China’s Debate, by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in 2010. Buescher has been working on projects on heretical rhetoric in military contexts and contemporary neocolonial media representations.