call for papers

[Russell Valentino]

Call for Papers
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), William Mazarella 
(University of Chicago), and Lamia Karim (University of Oregon).

Please submit 300-word abstracts online at

<http://www.uiowa.edu/obermann/obscenity>http://www.uiowa.edu/obermann/obscenity

by December 1, 2006.

Address any questions to Loren Glass at 
<mailto:obscenity at uiowa.edu>obscenity at uiowa.edu



Russell Valentino
Associate Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature
Faculty Associate Director
Obermann Center for Advanced Studies
University of Iowa
Tel. (319) 353-2193
Fax (319) 353-2524  

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