2009 Presenter Full Presenter List

Marcel Danesi

Pop Culture Semiotician

Marcel Danesi is respected for his work in several areas of semiotic study, including youth culture and metaphor. He is professor of semiotics and linguistic anthropology at the University of Toronto where he has been teaching since 1974.

Danesi was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1999 and is currently Editor-in-Chief of Semiotica, the leading journal in the field of semiotics. He has published profusely in the fields of Linguistics, Italian Studies, Applied and Cultural Semiotics and Communication Theory. He is the author of numerous books on media and popular culture including Brand, X-Rated!: The Power of Mythic Symbolism in Popular Culture, Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things, The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life and Cool: The Signs and Meanings of Adolescence.

He lives in Toronto with his wife, Lucy, and has a daughter and two grandchildren who live in Milwaukee.