Jonathan Isaiah Thomas received his bachelor’s degree in English, Integrated Language Arts and his master’s degree in English, Rhetoric and Writing from Wright State University. He has conducted research on disability representation in young adult literature, how hip-hop spreads critical race theory and how African American students use language in different settings (code-switching and code-meshing). 

Jonathan is a junior scholar in the fields of African American rhetoric and sound studies. He often examines soundscapes and how they can be used to observe the language habits of African Americans in different settings. He is also interested in how sound can affect the embodied experiences of people. Jonathan enjoys presenting his research in nontraditional ways, such as hip-hop, podcasts and audio documentaries. He wants his work to be accessible to multiple audiences, especially people outside the academy.

Jonathan is a strong proponent of code-meshing (the blending of languages, dialects, styles and registers while speaking and writing) and code-meshing pedagogies. He believes that students have the right to bring their home, native, or whatever language/dialect/language variety they find identity in into the classroom—that they should have their entire linguistic repertoire at their disposal. Jonathan promotes code-meshing inside and outside of the classroom and how it’s a way better option than code-switching.

Curriculum Vitae