[Bilimsel Haber] CFP: Obscenity, Obermann Center Humanities Symposium

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

From: Glass, Loren D <loren-glass at uiowa.edu>

Call for Papers - Reminder

Obscenity:
An Obermann Center Humanities Symposium

The University of Iowa
March 1-4, 2007

In 1966, anthropologist Mary Douglas published her groundbreaking study,
Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concept of Pollution and Taboo,
asserting that "dirt" is a "universal theme across human societies."
Douglas issued her book during a period of massive liberalization of
censorship practices in English-speaking societies that led lawyer
Charles Rembar to declare "the end of obscenity." Where Douglas saw a
universal cultural theme, Rembar saw a concept that had lost its
cultural significance. The proximity of these claims indicates a
persistent paradox: while the category of obscenity would appear to be
"universal," its meaning is so vague and variable that it is almost
impossible to pin down in what this universality consists. The opening
of the 21st century is a felicitous time to interrogate the
"universality" of obscenity in terms of the globalization of culture and
postmodern skepticism in the human sciences. This symposium is intended
to enable an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural dialogue that will
analyze this notoriously vague yet apparently perennial concept in an
historical and global context. Possible topics will include, but will
not be limited to, the following: How do definitions of obscenity vary
across cultures and historical periods? How do identity categories of
race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and disability inflect or
inform issues of obscenity? What is the relation between verbal and
visual instances of obscenity? To what degree is religion implicated in
definitions of obscenity? How is obscenity inflected or informed by
family structures and practices? How do issues of obscenity vary across
institutional locations? In what ways are attacks on obscenity related
to media ownership and the development of new media? How is obscenity
related to cognate concepts such as indecency, pornography, and
profanity?

Speakers include Nadine Strossen (New York University), Michael Taussig
(Columbia University), John D. Peters (University of Iowa), Laura Kipnis
(Northwestern University), Linda Williams (UC Berkeley), Judith Krug
(American Library Association), and Lamia Karim (University of Oregon).

Please submit 300-word abstracts online at
http://www.uiowa.edu/obermann/obscenity
by December 1, 2006.

Address any questions to Loren Glass at obscenity at uiowa.edu

Loren Glass
<loren-glass at uiowa.edu>