Raising the bar | US politics: A meme made in heaven

When

8.00pm–9.30pm

25 October 2017

Where

The Carrington, 565 Bourke St, Surry Hills

Type

Public forum

We live in an era where the president of the United States could feasibly start a war – not by firing missiles, but in firing off ill-advised tweets. To investigate the link between the internet and politics, our very own Rodney Taveira delved into the twisted psyche of American popular culture and pose the question: does American democracy exist if no-one is there to like it, retweet it or turn it into a meme?

Ask Rodney Taveira anything to do with American popular culture and odds are he has come across it in his research. Rodney’s expertise spans the glossary of Americanisms, covering literature to film to memes, and everything in-between. Having joined the United States Studies Centre in 2011, he’s currently working on a book examining the influence of visual culture on post-war American fiction.

Featuring

  • Dr Rodney Taveira
    Dr Rodney Taveira
    Senior Lecturer in American Studies, and Undergraduate, Honours, and Postgraduate Coordinator, United States Studies Centre

    Rodney Taveira is a Senior Lecturer in American Studies, and Undergraduate, Honours, and Postgraduate Coordinator at the United States Studies Centre. He was awarded his PhD in English from the University of Sydney in 2010 and has published on contemporary American fiction, book reviews, and television, and the interrelation of cinema, photography, painting, and literature.