Kim Hensley Owens

Kim Hensley Owens

Professor of English (Rhetoric, Writing, and Digital Media Studies) and Director of the University Writing Program
Northern Arizona University
Description of Work:
My description of who I am as an RHM scholar differs somewhat from my description of my work for this symposium, but I’ll try to combine the two. I’m interested in embodiment, rhetorical agency, and, broadly, the rhetorics of human interactions. I’ve written a lot about rhetorics of childbirth in the past and I’ve recently been writing about rhetorics surrounding sexual assault. This current project continues the thread of interest in embodiment and rhetorical agency. It focuses on Threshold Choir, an international choir with chapters in two dozen countries whose primary focus is to sing for people why are dying, often for those in hospice care. I’m interested in how the choir members learn from one another; how they interact with one another and with patients at the bedside; how both they and those they sing to are affected by the singing; and the specifics of the songs themselves, which are mostly unique to/written for Threshold Choir. I’m also interested in rhetorics of dying/death, more generally, and how that connects with the work of the Threshold Choir. The choir doesn’t perform a specifically medical function, but palliative care is an important health topic, so I see this as an RHM project. I’m imagining the final product as an auto/ethnography with narrative bits and analytical bits intertwined; the research is well underway, but it’s early days for the writing.
Socials: