The CWRL is pleased to announce that Cynthia Haynes will be visiting the lab in October to give a talk titled “Avatar Nation Secedes, Cites Moral Panic as Grounds for Political Divorce.”

Haynes, who is an Associate Professor and Director of First-Year Composition at Clemson University, will discuss how ‘avatar nation’ is making headlines around the world. She will describe how the proliferation of avatars into mainstream culture situates academia on the bleeding edge of a nation desperate for someone to take the diplomatic lead in an historic rhetorical negotiation. In an unprecedented move, virtual citizens of World of Warcraft and Second Life have joined forces and seceded from all their native nation-states. According to her, the world is on the brink of an avatar mass exodus. It’s serious—it’s real. It’s going to tank the economy. It’s going to mean the end of the virtual world as we know it, right down to our Molten Core. If we don’t go virtual now, we will find ourselves on the threshold of rhetorical hell ... where only action heroes rule and hockey moms wait in the wings to take their place.

Haynes will speak on Thursday, October 9, 2008, at 4 p.m. in the Sinclair Suite (3.128) of the Texas Union on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. The talk will be followed by a question and answer session. Light refreshments will be served.