Loretta Ramirez is Chair of the Chicano & Latino Studies Department and
Associate Professor of Latinx Rhetoric & Composition at California State University, Long Beach.
Her research includes historical rhetorics, cultural rhetorics, multimodal rhetoric, art history,
literature, writing, decolonial theory, archival methodologies & composition pedagogy.
Loretta's first book The Wound and the Stitch: A Genealogy of the Female Body from Medieval Iberia to SoCal Chicanx Art (Penn State University Press 2024) has won several awards.
Loretta is currently developing her second book, Get Back to Where You Once Belonged: Rhetorical Ruptures from the War in Vietnam to Chicano Studies Today—Field Notes from a Chair.
Loretta is currently developing her second book, Get Back to Where You Once Belonged: Rhetorical Ruptures from the War in Vietnam to Chicano Studies Today—Field Notes from a Chair.
PUBLICATIONS
"Cultural/Indigenous Rhetorics." In The Cambridge History of Rhetoric. Gen eds. Rita Copeland and Peter Mack. Vol. 5: Modern Rhetoric after 1900. Eds. Daniel Gross, Steven Mailloux, and LuMing Mao. Cambridge UP, 2025. (under contract)
The Wound and the Stitch: A Genealogy of the Female Body from Medieval Iberia to SoCal Chicanx Art. Pennsylvania State UP, 2024. https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09727-5.html
“Digging the Archives in Composition Stretch Programs: Reclamation of Historical Rhetorics to Support Chicanx Emotions of Belonging.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 75, no. 3, 2024, pp. 483-512. DOI: https://doi.org/10.58680/ccc2024753483.
“Archival Quest: Research Writing Pedagogies to Recover Historical Rhetorics that Centralize Latinx Voice & Inquiry.” Composition Studies, vol. 51, no. 1, Spring 2023, pp. 91-110.
“Self-Loving in the Epidemic Years: Carmen Machado’s Rhetoric of Woundedness.” Journal of Lesbian Studies, special issue of Chicana Lesbians: Re-Engaging the Iconic Text, "The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About," edited by Stacy Macias and Liliana González, vol. 26, 2023, pp. 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/10894160.2023.2178727
“Unmaking Colonial Fictions: Cherríe Moraga’s Rhetorics of Fragmentation and Semi-ness.” Rhetoric Review, vol. 41, no. 3, 2022, pp. 168-183, DOI:10.1080/07350198.2022.2077017
“David Lamelas’s The Desert People: An Odyssey for Authentic Representation,” Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture vol. 5, no. 1, 2016, pp. 136-143.
“David Lamelas: Restaging Past Art to Foster Reinvention,” Dandelion vol. 7, no. 1, 2016.
“We Belong,” Border-Lines: Journal of the Latino Research Center, vol. 7, 2013, pp. 115-117.
“I Blame My Mother,” 36 Stories Up, The Young Women and Careers Conference, 2012.
PRESENTATIONS
Rhetoric Research Cluster & Latinx Humanities Cluster Book Talk, University of California, Irvine, 2026.
Keynote Speaker at the Third Annual Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities Showcase, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Office of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies, English & Modern Language Dept, 2025.
“Constructing Textual Homes in Landscapes of Rhetorical Belonging: Autoethnography & Archival Research in Ethnic Studies Pedagogy,” California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences, 2025.
Invited Panelist at the Rhetoric of Science, Technology & Medicine Book Café, featuring The Wound and the Stitch: A Genealogy of the Female Body from Medieval Iberia to SoCal Chicanx Art, at the 110th National Communication Association’s Annual Association, 2025
"Panelist for the 2025 Women of Color Caucus, The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States Annual National Convention, 2025.
"Situating the University Inside Students and their Hybrid Sites of Learning,” Computers and Writing Conference, University of California, Davis, 2023
“Decolonial Rhetoric: Rhetorical Sovereignty and Epistemological Freedom,” University of California, Irvine. Graduate Rhetoric Seminar Series, 2022.
“Medieval Rhetoric: Egeria, Ramon Llull, and Francesc Eiximenis,” University of California, Irvine. Graduate Rhetoric Seminar Series, 2021.
“Composition Meets Archival Studies: Student Self-Validation Strategies in the Reclamation of Latinx Rhetorics,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, 2021.
“Critical Pedagogy and Chicanx Rhetorical Inheritances: Recovering Chicanx Historical Genealogies to Decolonize Composition Classrooms,” National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Web Seminar: Queerness, Cultural Rhetorics, and Decoloniality: Expanding the Conversation(s), 2020.
“Rhetorical Theory and Medical Humanities,” University of California, Irvine, 2020.
“Cultural Composition Meets the Historical Archives: Student Self-Validation of Cultural Voice and Rhetorical Inheritances,” Conference on College Composition and Communication Regional Conference, University of Southern California, Conference on Building Diverse Communities through Writing, 2020.
“Critical Pedagogy to Recover a Textual, Visual, and Corporal Historical Genealogy of Chicanx Rhetorics from Medieval to Contemporary,” Conference on College Composition & Communication. Granted Scholars for the Dream Award, 2020.
“The Rhetoric of Humility: Educating the Urban Populace of Late-Medieval Aragon in Francesc Eiximenis’s Lo Crestià and The Book of Women,” International Society for the History of Rhetoric, 2019.
“Teaching at the Intersections: Rhetoric and Composition Programs in Chican@ Studies,” National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Conference, 2017.
“The Madonna of Humility: Compassion Battles the Black Death,” Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies Conference, 2014.
“Pearl and the Gothic Cathedral: Medieval Poem Reflects Narrative Teaching Trends in Religious Architecture and Art,” Words & Music Festival, Faulkner Society, 2013.
PUBLICATIONS
"Cultural/Indigenous Rhetorics." In The Cambridge History of Rhetoric. Gen eds. Rita Copeland and Peter Mack. Vol. 5: Modern Rhetoric after 1900. Eds. Daniel Gross, Steven Mailloux, and LuMing Mao. Cambridge UP, 2025. (under contract)
The Wound and the Stitch: A Genealogy of the Female Body from Medieval Iberia to SoCal Chicanx Art. Pennsylvania State UP, 2024. https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09727-5.html
“Digging the Archives in Composition Stretch Programs: Reclamation of Historical Rhetorics to Support Chicanx Emotions of Belonging.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 75, no. 3, 2024, pp. 483-512. DOI: https://doi.org/10.58680/ccc2024753483.
“Archival Quest: Research Writing Pedagogies to Recover Historical Rhetorics that Centralize Latinx Voice & Inquiry.” Composition Studies, vol. 51, no. 1, Spring 2023, pp. 91-110.
“Self-Loving in the Epidemic Years: Carmen Machado’s Rhetoric of Woundedness.” Journal of Lesbian Studies, special issue of Chicana Lesbians: Re-Engaging the Iconic Text, "The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About," edited by Stacy Macias and Liliana González, vol. 26, 2023, pp. 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/10894160.2023.2178727
“Unmaking Colonial Fictions: Cherríe Moraga’s Rhetorics of Fragmentation and Semi-ness.” Rhetoric Review, vol. 41, no. 3, 2022, pp. 168-183, DOI:10.1080/07350198.2022.2077017
“David Lamelas’s The Desert People: An Odyssey for Authentic Representation,” Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture vol. 5, no. 1, 2016, pp. 136-143.
“David Lamelas: Restaging Past Art to Foster Reinvention,” Dandelion vol. 7, no. 1, 2016.
“We Belong,” Border-Lines: Journal of the Latino Research Center, vol. 7, 2013, pp. 115-117.
“I Blame My Mother,” 36 Stories Up, The Young Women and Careers Conference, 2012.
PRESENTATIONS
Rhetoric Research Cluster & Latinx Humanities Cluster Book Talk, University of California, Irvine, 2026.
Keynote Speaker at the Third Annual Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities Showcase, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Office of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies, English & Modern Language Dept, 2025.
“Constructing Textual Homes in Landscapes of Rhetorical Belonging: Autoethnography & Archival Research in Ethnic Studies Pedagogy,” California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences, 2025.
Invited Panelist at the Rhetoric of Science, Technology & Medicine Book Café, featuring The Wound and the Stitch: A Genealogy of the Female Body from Medieval Iberia to SoCal Chicanx Art, at the 110th National Communication Association’s Annual Association, 2025
"Panelist for the 2025 Women of Color Caucus, The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States Annual National Convention, 2025.
"Situating the University Inside Students and their Hybrid Sites of Learning,” Computers and Writing Conference, University of California, Davis, 2023
“Decolonial Rhetoric: Rhetorical Sovereignty and Epistemological Freedom,” University of California, Irvine. Graduate Rhetoric Seminar Series, 2022.
“Medieval Rhetoric: Egeria, Ramon Llull, and Francesc Eiximenis,” University of California, Irvine. Graduate Rhetoric Seminar Series, 2021.
“Composition Meets Archival Studies: Student Self-Validation Strategies in the Reclamation of Latinx Rhetorics,” National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, 2021.
“Critical Pedagogy and Chicanx Rhetorical Inheritances: Recovering Chicanx Historical Genealogies to Decolonize Composition Classrooms,” National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Web Seminar: Queerness, Cultural Rhetorics, and Decoloniality: Expanding the Conversation(s), 2020.
“Rhetorical Theory and Medical Humanities,” University of California, Irvine, 2020.
“Cultural Composition Meets the Historical Archives: Student Self-Validation of Cultural Voice and Rhetorical Inheritances,” Conference on College Composition and Communication Regional Conference, University of Southern California, Conference on Building Diverse Communities through Writing, 2020.
“Critical Pedagogy to Recover a Textual, Visual, and Corporal Historical Genealogy of Chicanx Rhetorics from Medieval to Contemporary,” Conference on College Composition & Communication. Granted Scholars for the Dream Award, 2020.
“The Rhetoric of Humility: Educating the Urban Populace of Late-Medieval Aragon in Francesc Eiximenis’s Lo Crestià and The Book of Women,” International Society for the History of Rhetoric, 2019.
“Teaching at the Intersections: Rhetoric and Composition Programs in Chican@ Studies,” National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Conference, 2017.
“The Madonna of Humility: Compassion Battles the Black Death,” Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies Conference, 2014.
“Pearl and the Gothic Cathedral: Medieval Poem Reflects Narrative Teaching Trends in Religious Architecture and Art,” Words & Music Festival, Faulkner Society, 2013.