Events

Filter by:

Limit to events where the first date of the event:
Date range
Limit to events where the first date of the event:
Limit to events where the title matches:
Limit to events where the type is one or more of:
Limit to events tagged with one or more of:
Limit to events where the audience is one or more of:
Friday, November 1, 2019 2:15 pm - 4:30 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

George Elliott Clarke Recites from Canticles

Photo of George Elliott Clarke.
Please join the Department of English Language and Literature for a public talk by Dr. George Elliott Clarke, Waterloo Arts alumnus and Professor of English, University of Toronto. Dr. Clarke will be reciting from his latest work Canticles, an ongoing project started in Zanzibar in 2008 and expected to conclude in 2021.

Thursday, January 30, 2020 4:00 pm - 4:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Giovanna Riccio, "Plasticity's Bombshell"

Giovanna Riccio

In 2019, the Barbie doll turned 60.  Plasticity in body and persona allowed the Mattel toy company to position and reposition their high-achieving money-maker as relevant by exploiting social trend, political movements and historical shifts. As a complex international celebrity and feminist bête noir, Barbie is a mirror helping us to reflect on ourselves. 

This lecture is based on my book, Plastic’s Republic, a poem collection centering on the Barbie doll as an enduring cultural icon. I will examine her creation, her impact on female beauty and discuss how her mouldable nature made her a “capital doll” and free market diva. Following the book’s themes, I will elaborate the philosophical, feminist and social issues she engenders and discuss how Barbie became plastic surgery’s prophet by spawning “plastic positive” humans. Finally, plastic’s reach extends to the dollification of romantic relationships via silicone sex dolls and ends (un)naturally in our plastic infused lives and smothered oceans.

I will follow the lecture by reading from Plastic’s Republic.