Biography

I completed my BA (Honors) in English here at the University of Winnipeg, and I also have a Creative Communications Diploma from Red River College and a MA in Rhetoric and Communication Design at the University of Waterloo. My MA thesis, entitled Does NME Even Know What a Music Blog Is?: The Rhetoric and Social Meaning of MP3 Blogs, argues that MP3 files greatly affect MP3 blogs in terms of shaping them as a genre separate from general weblogs and music blogs without MP3s, especially due to the impact of MP3 blog aggregators; a particular form of rhetoric illuminated by Kenneth Burke's dramatistic ratios; and a potentially subversive subculture, which like other subcultures, exists in a symbiotic relationship with the traditional media it defines itself against. While I haven't specialized in young people's texts, I have found ways to incorporate research on such texts in undergraduate and graduate work; I've explored topics that include androgyny in advertising for teens, technology and magic in Harry Potter, and the social semiotics of the Build-a-Bear Workshop. I have also assisted with marketing for the Children's Museum.

Since 2009, I've been Research Coordinator at the Centre for Research in Young People's Texts and Cultures, where I assist the director with managing various research projects, planning and hosting symposia and lectures, and overseeing communication activities, including the design and maintenance of websites. I am also the Managing Editor of CRYTC's academic journal Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures.

My research interests include cultural studies, digital media and humanities, memory studies, and the intersection of music, labour, and politics.

Degrees Received:

M.A., University of Waterloo (2008)
B.A. (Hons), University of Winnipeg (2006)
Creative Communications Diploma (Major: Advertising), Red River College (2003)

Current Research in Progress

• Wodtke, Larissa (chapter accepted for publication). "MP3 as Contentious Message: When Infinite Repetition Fuses with the Acoustic Sphere." Seriality Texts for Young People: The Compulsion to Repeat. Ed. Mavis Reimer. Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming.

Relevant Publications

• Wodtke, Larissa and Mavis Reimer. Making Change: The Cost of 'Free'." Jeunesse 4.2 (2012): 1-14.
• Reimer, Mavis, Cat Tosenberger, and Larissa Wodtke. 'Je suis fatigué par le culte de la jeunesse': Or, Walking on Ice in High Heels." Jeunesse 3.1 (2011): 1-10.

Conference Presentations

• "MP3 as Contentious Message: When Infinite Repetition Fuses with the Acoustic Sphere." Narrative, Repetition, and Texts for Young People, University of Winnipeg, 2011.
• "MP3 as Message: What Does it Say Music is Worth in the 21st Century?" Marshall McLuhan in a Post Modern World: Is the Medium the Message?, University of Winnipeg, 2010
• "Does NME Even Know What a Music Blog Is?: The Rhetoric of MP3 Blogs and Social Meaning." PopPrint: Continuities and Innovations: Popular Print Cultures—Past and Present, Local and Global, University Alberta, 2008