Human Activities: The Social Uses of Art and Its Study
Rice University
7-8 March 2003
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Lawrence Buell, Ph.D. Dr. Buell is chair of the Department of English
and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. He is the
author of, most recently, Writing for an Endangered World (2001), and
The Environmental Imagination (1995).
CALL FOR PAPERS
What is the place of art? How do the production and study of aesthetic
objects contribute to or detract from discussions of ethics and social
activism? As the media presents us with an ever-growing number of
reports of global economic crisis, environmental degradation, and war,
where does the study of art find itself?
"Human Activities," will address issues surrounding the social and
ethical uses of art and its study. We present no set definition for terms
such as "art," "use," or "value," and we are thus seeking papers from
across the disciplines examining a variety of artistic objects, genres,
and media from varying perspectives. Papers should investigate social
as well as aesthetic concerns.
We are accepting abstracts of 250 words or less. We welcome panel
submissions. Presentations must be no more than fifteen minutes in
length. The deadline for submissions is 10 January 2003.
POSSIBLE TOPICS
-- The power structures at work in the defining of a particular object or
objects as "art."
-- The impact of the study of art on its production and performance.
-- The ways in which an art form or particular work of art contributes to
discussions of identity (race, ethnicity, nationality,
class, gender, sexuality, etc.).
-- The intersection of the study of aesthetics (or a particular aesthetic
object) with studies of ethics, economics, or global politics.
-- The place of art within environmental studies.
-- The relationship between theory and activism.
Send submissions or questions to David Messmer at
dmessmer@sbcglobal.net or Elizabeth Fenton at efenton@rice.edu.
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