English

Congratulations to Erika Pineo on the successful defence of her MA thesis, "'The Smell of Nail Polish Has Made Me Hungry': Food, Consumerism, and Diet Culture in Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman, Lady Oracle, and The Handmaid's Tale"! Erika's thesis examines the connection between the representation of food, the feminine body, and consumer culture in early works by Atwood, while also illuminating a pervasive double-bind that is still present in 21st-century diet and wellness trends. Impressed by the effortlessness of the thesis's use of theory, its close readings of Atwood's novels, and its relevance to contemporary cultural criticism, Erika's examining unanimously nominated the thesis for the Acadia Outstanding Masters Research Award.