Springfield, Ohio - The Wittenberg University Office of Alumni Relations opens its 2008-09 Noon Lunch and Lecture Series with Professor of Communication Catherine Egley Waggoner, who will make a presentation titled "Making Camp: The Gender Politics of Popular Culture" at 12 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16, in Room 105 of the Joseph C. Shouvlin Center for Lifelong Learning, 737 N. Fountain Ave.
Open to the public, participants will purchase their own lunch in the Center Dining Room or Post 95 in the Benham-Pence Student Center and then gather at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and fellowship. The lecture, followed by a question and answer session, will begin at 12:15 p.m.
Camp, a style characterized by excess, irony and gender parody, historically has been associated with subversiveness, epitomized in drag queen performances. Intrigued by what she perceived as a pervasive use of camp aesthetics in film, television and music videos, Waggoner used her 2002 sabbatical to assess the portrayal of "campy" women in popular culture.
Knowing that this trait is historically associated with men, Waggoner wanted to understand its role for representations of women. She shared her interest with colleague Helene A. Shugart of the University of Utah, and their research resulted in the March 2008 publication of a book titled Making Camp: Rhetorics of Transgression in U.S. Popular Culture.
Waggoner teaches courses in rhetoric, and her research focuses on contemporary perspectives on rhetoric, with emphasis in critical/cultural perspectives and gender issues in communication. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, a master's degree from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. She joined the Wittenberg faculty in 1995.
The charge for the lecture is $6 per person. For additional information and to make reservations, contact Linda Himes, events planner for advancement, at (937) 327-7432.
Written By: Ryan Maurer