Jose Angel Maldonado is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of South Florida, specializing in Rhetorical Theory, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, Film and Television Criticism, Contemporary Mexican Culture, Gender Studies, Globalization, Neoliberalism, and Indigeneity. His book, Falling to My Death: Vertical Rhetorics in Neoliberal Mexico (Clemson UP, 2025), combines memoir and cultural criticism of visual media to expose the normalization of violence as a rhetorical process. His research also appears in Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric & Public Address, Southern Communication Journal, and Javnost-The Public: Journal of the European Institute for Communication and Culture. He received a PhD in Communication from the University of Utah. His doctoral dissertation, Diana's Confession: Precarious Rhetoric in Post-NAFTA Mexico, won the 2018 Rhetoric Society of America Dissertation Award. His article, "Platano's Pharmacy: The Republic's Taste of Its Own Medicine," won the NCA Critical and Cultural Studies Division Outstanding Article Award, and his article "Mexico Pesimo: Colosio's Metanoic and Magnicidal Leadership," won the NCA Latino/a Communication Studies Division Outstanding Article Award.