2:00 PM
Lown Room
Ellis Sinclair is an English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies double major and McGillicuddy Humanities Center Undergraduate Fellow whose project Through the Rabbit Hole: The Paraworld and How Stories Reproduce Ideology aims to situate three classic children’s stories: Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in both their historical contexts and their contemporary sociological relevance. For this research, Sinclair will be advised by English Department’s Dr. Hollie Adams. Sinclair’s Fellowship is supported by the Liam Riordan Humanities Fellowship Fund.
Info:
The media we consume shapes who we are as individuals and as societies. Far too often, the underlying ideologies of these stories remain undiscussed—taken at face value—and dominant, harmful ideologies proliferate through seemingly innocuous media. Children, especially vulnerable to this messaging, find themselves exposed to stories that carry patriarchal, colonial, and white supremacist underpinnings that rarely bubble to the surface. In many cases, our very frustrations with the ways the world is run are packaged and sold back to us through these stories. Coining the term paraworld to describe this concept, Ellis Sinclair invites you to a conversation about stories, meaning, and how even resistance becomes commodified within the confines of empire.
For more details, email mhc@maine.edu