News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2019-03-11-scholarly
March 11, 2019

Scholarly Presentation Explores Fashion, Politics

College of the Canyons professors Ruth Rassool and Deems Morrione will deliver the scholarly presentation “Bitchery and the Politics of Fashion” on Thursday, March 28 at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center.

With the use of photos and video clips, the presentation will reveal the intersection between fashion and politics as it relates to Foucault, Lacan, and Baudrillard theory.

“The Scholarly Presentation has been occurring for almost 20 years and is a wonderful way to showcase the unique talents and knowledge of our faculty,” said Sarah Etheridge, chair of the scholarly presentation committee. "We want to also make sure the community knows this event is open to everyone and is a wonderful way to learn about fun and exciting topics that otherwise people may not get a chance to learn about.”

Rassool and Morrione’s interest in fashion led them to create The Bitch Project, a social media salon where the overt and covert political messages sent down the runway by fashion designers are analyzed and discussed.

Notoriously negative in connotation, the word “bitch” has been reclaimed by the presenters for the sake of academic critique to identify cosmopolitanism in politics, fashion, and pop culture.

“It is not a way to get attention; it is to present analysis in a way that is sardonic and biting,” outlines the project’s manifesto. “As a noun, it suggests that a person holds to a set of standards and conveys a commitment to taste.”

The scholarly presentation is scheduled 6 p.m. Thursday, March 28. The event is free and open to the public.

The Presenters

Ruth Rassool

Born and raised in England, Ruth Rassool moved to Santa Clarita in 1994 just days after the Northridge earthquake. A COC alumna, Rassool earned a bachelor’s degree in English from UCLA and a master’s degree in English from National University in La Jolla. She returned to COC to teach British, American, and World Literature in 2009.

Before moving to the U.S., Rassool worked in London’s fashion and beauty industry, which led to teaching. “I once almost sold a coat to Princess Diana, when she was still Lady Diana,” said Rassool, “but she was too indecisive!”

Deems Morrione

Deems Morrione has been teaching political science at College of the Canyons since 2007. A club advisor for the college’s Political Science Club, Morrione has also taken part in several political science panels. In 2016, Morrione was invited to present at the college's TEDx conference “Privacy Rights in a Digital Age.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from California State University, Long Beach in 1992, Morrione earned a master’s degree and Ph.D in American Studies from Purdue University. Among other published works, Morrione is the author of “When Signifiers Collide: Doubling, Semiotic Black Holes, and the Destructive Remainder of the American Un/Real.”