Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric (with Karen A. Foss and Robert Trapp) summarizes the theories of ten rhetorical theorists, including Kenneth Burke, bell hooks, Jean Baudrillard, and Michel Foucault.
She often takes a communication theory or concept and asks what it would look like if it were built on different assumptions, different values, different kinds of symbols, or the speaking practices of previously marginalized groups.
"[6] Her early efforts in this area were designed largely to introduce the communication discipline to great women speakers and social movements involving women in an effort to make them legitimate data for study.
[6] These efforts are illustrated by her articles on women priests in the Episcopal Church and the debate on the Equal Rights Amendment.
"[6] She calls herself a feminist reconstructionist in that she seeks to reconstruct communication theories and concepts that are based on patriarchal values and assumptions and the speaking practices of elite white men.
[13] The theory of invitational rhetoric, which Foss developed with Cindy L. Griffin, is an example of her reconceptualization work from a feminist perspective.
When visual images are used as the data of studies, she suggests, theories of communication must be expanded to encompass these different types of symbols.