Malled: Deciphering Shopping in Canada

October 3, 2017
230 Pages | ISBN 978-1-928088-46-2

Generally Kit Dobson hates malls. But he is fascinated by them, by their place in our society, by how we interact with them and how they end up in our books, movies and art. In Malled, Dobson explores malls and the shopping that occurs in and around them from one end of Canada to the other. From Chinook Centre in Calgary to the underground malls of Montreal and even up to the famous Walmart in Whitehorse, he looks at our culture of consumerism, and how malls are both shaped by their location and shape the spaces around them. While Kit may never become fond of aspects of consumer culture like the selfie stick or the Elf on the Shelf, by the end of Malled, he has found a peace with our spaces for shopping, which he suggests are only a more recent reflection of a need that will never go away.

Reviews

Malled: Deciphering Shopping in Canada (Andrew Guilbert, Alberta Views, 01/09/2018)
"The best parts of Malled are when the author uses poetry, film, paintings and books that incorporate the places he visits to reflect on them from a cultural perspective."

Malled: Deciphering Shopping in Canada gives malls their due (Globe and Mail, 22/02/2018)
"In Malled, Kit Dobson asks why the mall, recently marked by such notable closings, isn't a Canadian culture story, too. Why are these spaces not widely reflected in literature, music and film? … Where Dobson is at his best is analyzing the concrete, whether reading Calgary's CrossIron Mills or Gary Burns's 2000 film waydowntown. An important start on a subject that has received surprisingly little attention in Canada."

Interviews

GET LIT E68 with KIT DOBSON (Jamie Tennant, Get Lit, 08/03/2018)
Today’s guest is Kit Dobson, an academic and author based in Calgary. His newest book, Malled: Deciphering Shopping in Canada, is available through Wolsak & Wynn.

'Malled' author Kit Dobson (Doug Dirks and Jenny Howe, The Homestretch, 06/11/2017)
Kit talks about his book Malled and how malls fit into our culture.

Articles

Listening in a Time of Pandemic (Kit Dobson, Alberta Views, 01/07/2020)
Kit shares a beautiful, thoughtful essay about the art of listening.

Read the Provinces: Kit Dobson (All Lit Up, 08/01/2020)
An interview with Kit as part of All Lit Up's Read the Provinces series.

From Black Friday to Boxing Week: An excerpt from Kit Dobson's Malled: Deciphering Shopping in Canada (National Post, 24/11/2017)

Alberta@Noon - Thursday, November 23 (Trevor Tombe, Alberta@Noon, 23/11/2017)
Radio economist Trevor Tombe talks about the province's economic health and asks if you enjoy shopping at malls.

Excerpt

Click here to read an excerpt from Malled.

About the Author

Kit Dobson lives and writes in Calgary. He has lived across Canada and in the UK. The author / editor of three academic books, he is also the editor of Please, No More Poetry: The Poetry of derek beaulieu and a faculty member at Mount Royal University.

Other Books By This Author

Field Notes on Listening (2022)