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Laura is a proud MLC Alumna and no longer with the Centre.

Laura Berger holds an MA in English (McMaster University, 2012) and an MA in Popular Culture (Brock University, 2011). She completed her BA (with honors) at Ryerson University in Arts and Contemporary Studies (2010). Laura’s primary research interests are contemporary popular culture and literature, particularly representations of aging, gender, and sexuality. On Dr. Gammel’s research team, Laura Berger studied St. Nicholas: Scribner’s Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls (1873-1943).

Following her residency at the MLC, Laura Berger accepted a position as a writer and researcher for Women and Hollywood, a division of Indiewire. The New York Times described Women and Hollywood as "an influential blog that advocates for gender parity in moviedom, especially behind the camera."

Click here for Laura Berger’s work on St. Nicholas magazine.

Grants

Laura was awarded an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2010-2011) and a Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2011-2012).

Publications

Berger, Laura. "They are Living in a Post-Feminist World, and They are (Poster) Post-Feminist Girls: ‘It’ Girls in Cecily von Ziegesar’s Post- Feminist Jr. Chick Lit.” Her Own Worst Enemy: The Eternal Internal Gender Wars of Our Sisters. Eds. Monique Ferrell and Julian Williams. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2014 [forthcoming].

Berger, Laura. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Movie.” Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion. Ed. Mary Alice Money. London, UK: Titan Books, 2012. 429-431.

Conference Presentations

Berger, Laura. "St. Nicholas Magazine’s Heroines of Service: Aspirational Figures for Girls in Wartime.” "Northeast Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (NEPCA) Annual Conference.”  Burlington, Vermont. October 25-26, 2013. 

Berger, Laura. "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Reflections of Aging in Snow White and the Huntsman.” "From Pippi to Ripley: The Female Figure in Fantasy and Science Fiction Conference.” Ithaca, New York. May 3-4, 2013.

Personnel Index

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The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

MLC Themes

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

Amid the unprecedented social change of World War I, women renegotiated their identities by dramatically changing the way they engaged with the arts. But how did they do so? And how did everyday citizens engage with the war?
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

MLC Themes

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, considered by many to be the mother of Dada, was a daringly innovative poet and an early creator of junk sculpture. “The Baroness” was best known for her sexually charged, often controversial performances.
Modernism in the World

MLC Themes

Modernism in the World

Recent research has departed from the Euro-centric and national view of Modernism to include approaches and methods studying Modernism across national boundaries and across different art forms to include fashion, dance, performance, technology, and visual culture.
Lucy Maud Montgomery

MLC Themes

Lucy Maud Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery is perhaps Canada's most important literary export. She was prolific writer of over 500 short stories and poems, and twenty novels, including the beloved Anne of Green Gables.
Canadian Modernism

MLC Themes

Canadian Modernism

The works of numerous Canadian authors who lived during the modernist era may well constitute the most central and experimental articulation of Canadian modernism in prose, allowing authors to stage cross-cultural, controversial, and even conflicted identities.
Modernist Biography and Life Writing

MLC Themes

Modernist Biography and Life Writing

Life writing, including autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters and testimonials written or told by women and men whose political, literary or philosophical purposes are central to their lives, has become a standard tool for communication and the dissemination of information.