[Discussion] Locating Pop Cultures

[Gonul]

Locating Pop Cultures: Negotiating Place, Interrogating Class, and 
Constructing Identity

Rice Graduate Symposium, March 12-13, 2004; Rice University, Houston, Texas

Popular culture continues to be a site for articulating desires, assuaging
anxieties, and negotiating individual/group identities among a range of
distinct and overlapping communities.  Our title emphasizes the importance
of place and also references our desire to interrogate the boundaries of
popular culture study itself. In using the more abbreviated term “pop,” we
intend to invoke not only the recognized term “popular,” but also terms such
as “populations” and “populace,” terms which encourage the investigation of
multifaceted audiences. We believe that the question “popular for whom?”
remains open. In short, we intend for this conference to question and
renegotiate the boundaries of popular culture study itself.

We anticipate work which investigates issues of sexuality, gender, race,
ethnicity, religion, nationality, location, and community in connection with
cultural production. We welcome interdisciplinary work investigating
phenomenon from any genre or time period. We encourage a notion of art,
events, and activities conscious of the processes and relations of
production and reception.

Individual and panel submissions are welcome. Please send abstracts of 200
words or less. Presentations should be no more than 15 minutes in length.
Our submission deadline is January 16, 2004.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
•consumer culture and artistic production among marginalized communities
•the relationship of academic disciplines to mainstream culture
•popular culture in the context of transnationalism and globalization
•the impact of popular culture historically
•issues of pedagogy and popular culture
•the intersection of the study of popular culture and issues of sexuality,
gender, race, ethnicity, religion nationality, location, and community
•interdisciplinary/methodological approaches to the study of popular culture

Send submissions, questions of comments to
Lourdes Alberto (lulualberto@yahoo.com) and Molly Robey (mkrobey@rice.edu).