Writing Events: New Writing in Cultural Studies

Transforming Cultures Centre presents: Writing Events: New Writing in
Cultural Studies, a two day workshop April 14-15, 2003 at UTS (Blackfriars
Campus).

Keynote speaker is Michael Taussig (Columbia University, New York), with
Tony Birch, Anne Brewster, Ross Gibson, Amanda Lohrey, Stephen Muecke and
Katrina Schlunke. This event is aimed at postgraduate students, though is
open to all.

Michael Taussig will also present a public lecture, Walter Benjamin's Grave:
A Profane Illumination on Monday April 14 at 7pm, at the UTS Design and
Architecture Building (6322), Harris Street, Ultimo.

information abstracts program registration go to:
http://www.transforming.cultures.uts.edu.au/writingevents
oo please circulate oo

more info:
keri glastonbury
transforming cultures centre
humanities and social sciences
university of technology, sydney
po box 123 broadway
nsw 2007
australia

p: +61 2 95142309
Reply to: transforming.cultures <at> uts.edu.au

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Call for Papers: Invisible Culture

Call for Papers: Please Post
(apologies for cross-postings)

The online journal _Invisible Culture_ (http//www.rochester.edu/in_visible_culture/
ivchome.html) is seeking papers of 2500 to 6000 words in length for an upcoming issue on visual culture and
the public sphere.  

This issue will consider an understanding of "publics" as social, spatial, and ideological entities
formed, as Michael Warner suggests, in discursive relation to cultural texts and practices.  In contrast
to Jurgen Habermas¹ notion of a singular, monolithic public sphere, we hope to explore a notion of public
that is fragmentary, multiple, ephemeral, and often overlapping.  In this context, how do cultural
texts, like public art and popular media, define and address their publics, and inform our notion of
public in general?  Conversely, how does our understanding and experience of the contemporary public
sphere(s) influence or alter counter-cultural identities and the practices and texts of everyday life?

Topics for papers might include the formation of mass media publics and fan culture; the ³everyday² as
public spectacle in reality TV; counterpublics and ³reading culture against the grain²; public art
and its reception; urban design and the creation of public space; or public memory and mourning.

The deadline for submissions in April 15, 2003.  Please contact Catherine Zuromskis by e-mail
(catzas <at> mindspring.com) for more information.  Submissions may be made electronically, to
catzas <at> mindspring.com, or hard copies may be sent to Invisible Culture, 424 Morey Hall, University of
Rochester, Rochester NY, 14627.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Past issues of _Invisible Culture_ include: ³Visual Culture and National Identity² (Issue 5),³To
Incorporate Practice² (Issue 4), ³Time and the Work² (Issue 3), ³Interrogating Subcultures²
(Issue 2), and ³The Worlding of Cultural Studies² (Issue 1).

Summer Institute in New Media

LESLIE HUMANITIES CENTER, DARTMOUTH

Summer Institute in New Media

Applications are due by March 31st for the first annual Institute in the New
Media at Dartmouth College from July 7th to 19th, 2003. A Scholarly
Communication Institute, organized by the Berry Library at Dartmouth, will
overlap with the New Media Institute.

The Institute will consist of two seminars of 12-14 members each, to be
conducted respectively by  Professor Lev Manovich (University of California
San Diego) and Professor Margaret Morse (University of California Santa
Cruz), both leading authorities with important publications in this field.

Each  seminar will meet at least three times weekly.  In addition to leading
discussions, the seminar leaders will also hold office hours for individual
consultation. The seminars will not be primarily technical in nature;
rather, they will create a setting for learning and exchange in the rapidly
evolving critical discourse(s) pertaining to the New Media.

For further information, syllabi, and applications, see:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~lhc/nmi_info.html
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~lhc/nmi_apply.html

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Presentation Opportunity

Hi everyone:

I'm currently in the process of putting together a session on "Religion and
Popular Culture" for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
meetings to be held October 24th - 26th in Norfolk VA.  It turns out that I
need to let the program chair know by the 15th of this month whether I'll
have a full session (right now I only have one abstract).  If you are
interested please send along an abstract via email to me at the address
below.  Thanks.

Chuck-

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles M. Brown, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
Teel Hall
Albright College
Reading, PA  19612
Phone: (610) 921-7865
Fax: (610) 921-7883
email: cbrown <at> alb.edu
url: http://www.geocities.com/cbrown965
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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The FAQ: http://www.cas.usf.edu/communication/rodman/cultstud/faq.html

Cultural Studies in the World Today

Announcement and Call for Papers

9th International 'Culture and Power' Conference

Iberian Association for Cultural Studies

CULTURAL STUDIES IN THE WORLD TODAY

Lisbon, University of Lisbon and Faculty of Letters,
November 4  7, 2003

The University of Lisbon and the Faculty of Letters will host in November 
2003 the 9th International 'Culture and Power' Conference, the annual 
Conference of the Iberian Association for Cultural Studies. The general 
theme of the Conference is Cultural Studies in the World Today.

The Conference is organised by the staff, students and associates of the 
Postgraduate 'Culture and Society' Programme (Dept of English 
Studies)  responsible from 1997 onwards for the Lisbon Culture 
Conference  and by Mundiconvenius (directed by Luisa Ahrens Teixeira). This 
year's Conference will be focally concerned with the world we live in, its 
defining social, economic, political and cultural traits, and with how 
cultural studies can contribute to a more accurate and politically relevant 
knowledge of those traits and of the forces, strategies, vectors, relations 
and structures of power which make such traits effective and changeable by 
social practice.

The Conference is sponsored by the University of Lisbon, the Faculty of 
Letters and the Department of English Studies. Other sponsors will be 
announced in due course.

CFP: 5th Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conf. - 2004

*** First Announcement *** (apologies for cross-postings)
*** 5th International Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference ***
*** www.crossroads2004.org ***

Session proposals for the Fifth International Crossroads in Cultural Studies 
Conference, to be held at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, from 
June 25-28, 2004, are now being accepted for consideration. The mandate of the 
2004 conference is to connect critical cultural analyses to progressive 
political action in an age of violence and global uncertainty. At this time, 
we are pleased to announce that Lawrence Grossberg (University of North 
Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Meaghan Morris (Lingnan University, Hong Kong) will 
each give a keynote address. Further, plenary speakers confirmed at this time 
are: Lauren Berlant (University of Chicago); CL Cole (University of Illinois); 
Henry Giroux (Pennsylvania State University); Toby Miller (New York 
University); Peter McLaren (University of California, Los Angeles); and Paula 
Saukko (University of Exeter, United Kingdom). More plenary speakers will be 
announced throughout the year. Six Spotlight Sessions have also been 
commissioned to cover specific topics such as Cultural Studies in South 
Africa, Neoliberalism & Democracy, and Sport & Cultural Studies.  We will also 
have a Special Spotlight Session roundtable that reflects back on the landmark 
1990 conference “Cultural Studies Now and in the Future,” to be facilitated by 
that conference’s organizers – Paula Treichler, Cary Nelson, and Lawrence 
Grossberg.

Session organizers should submit a 500-word abstract proposal, including with 
it pertinent contact information and the area under which you think it would 
best fit (e.g., Critical Race Theory, Feminist Media Studies; Critical 
Pedagogy, etc.). You may propose a session with a complete list of 
participants, or just send us the title and session abstract, so people can 
see it advertised and contact you with their paper proposals. Proposals can be 

reading suggestions

hello-

i'm an undergraduate looking into the possibility of developing a senior
thesis for next year.  i'm still in the "scheming" stage, and one of the
things i'm interested in writing about is video games, specifically
role-playing video games.  as i understand, there hasn't been a whole lot of
scholarship done on video games, but i'm interested in examining role
playing games as an interactive narrative form.  i'm especially interested
in the relationship of the player to the characters, since these games tend
to develop lengthy plots (60+ hours playing time) built around character
development as well as the "quest" at hand.  simply put, many gamers feel
they "relate" to their characters quite a bit, and i think the relationship
is worth exploring.  also i'm interested in the role of the player in
developing the narrative itself.  similar to the reader in hypertext
fiction, the role-playing gamer has the responsibility of advancing the
"text" according to his/her own actions/decisions, but can only do so within
the bounds established by the author/creator.  the gaming experience depends
entirely upon this negotiated relationship between player and creator.

i have not read anything on the subject, however, and so i'm putting out a
request for any reading that might help, as a place to start.  i'm
anticipating that there's not going to be a whole lot of writing that
discusses video games directly, but texts that address interactivity, role
playing, the surrogatory relationship (like that of the gamer and the
character), and other relevant ideas would be very helpful.

thanks in advance for any suggestions you can provide-

Andrew P. Brommel
Northwestern University

Critical Inquiry board meeting <at> U of C

Greetings! 

Below is a posting for the Critical Inquiry (Journal) Editorial Board's 
Symposium on April 11th at the University of Chicago. It's open to the public, 
and there is an opportunity to pose questions regarding the future of criticism 

prior to the event. Homi Bhahba, Teresa de Lauretis, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 
and Edward Said will be in attendance. See below for more information... 

> >>THE FUTURE OF CRITICISM: CRITICAL INQUIRY EDITORIAL BOARD SYMPOSIUM 
> >> 
> >>The journal Critical Inquiry is pleased to announce the first-ever 
> >>editorial board symposium. On Friday, April 11 from 4 to 6 p.m., 
> >>the Critical Inquiry editorial board will meet with interested 
> >>members of the public to discuss the future of criticism. 
> >> 
> >>The aim of this meeting is to think together about the agenda for 
> >>critical inquiry and Critical Inquiry, both the journal and the 
> >>thing itself, in the coming century. What is cultural criticism 
> >>good at? How has it succeeded or failed and what is on its horizon? 
> >>We want our diverse and multitalented editorial board to brainstorm 
> >>with the public about the future of criticism and theory in the 
> >>human sciences.  What are the big new questions that will demand 
> >>special attention, and what are the ìspecial issuesî for a 
> >>wide-ranging intellectual journal in this millennium?  And what 
> >>will be the fate of the humanities, of literature, the arts, and 
> >>philosophy in what many have heralded as a posthuman age? 
> >> 
> >>By any standard, the symposium will be an unprecedented meeting of 
> >>the minds. Moderated by cultural anthropologist John Comaroff, 

Re: reading suggestions

Andrew - there is now a tremendous amount of critical activity around the
study of computer and videogames. There is a list of reading and sources on
www.badnewthings.co.uk (click on the Interactive Media module link - there
is lots of stuff on interactivity, games and narrative hidden away in there
too), but I'm having trouble with my ISP, so if you can't get in, the
following are a useful start:

Lister, Dovey, Giddings, Grant & Kelly New Media: a critical introduction
Routledge: 2003

also:
http://www.ludology.com
 The Digiplay Initiative
http://www.digiplay.org.uk/
Games Studies online academic journal
http://www.gamestudies.org
http://www.game-culture.com/
http://www.womengamers.com/
MCS Media and Communication Studies site (University of Aberystwyth):
videogames
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Sections/it06.html
http://www.gamegirladvance.com/
http://www.joystick101.org/
http://www.igda.org/

Games, Gamers and Gaming Culture
http://www.knowledge.hut.fi/projects/games/gamelinks.html
http://www.gamasutra.com
http://www.selectparks.net/
http://www.game-research.com/

"New Sex" Conference at George Mason University, March 27, 2003