CFP: conference on obscenity

[Kerim Friedman]

I don't have an abstract to submit, but I do have a couple of links to
recommend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seEGwx2txuc

http://savageminds.org/2006/10/20/wt_-linguistic-taboos/

Cheers,

Kerim

On 11/13/06, Adi Hastings <adi-hastings at uiowa.edu> wrote:
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> Call for Papers
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> Obscenity:
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> An Obermann Center Humanities Symposium
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> The University of Iowa
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> March 1-4, 2007
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> 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.
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> 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?
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> 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
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> Association), and Lamia Karim (University of Oregon).
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> Please submit 300-word abstracts online at
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> http://www.uiowa.edu/obermann/obscenity
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> by December 1, 2006.
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> Address any questions to Loren Glass at obscenity at uiowa.edu
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