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.

Invited Speakers include Nadine Strossen (New York Law School), Michael Taussig (Columbia University), John D. Peters (University of Iowa), Laura Kipnis (Northwestern University), Linda Williams (UC Berkeley), Jyoti Puri (Simmons College) , and David Levi Strauss (Bard College) and featuring performance artist Tim Miller.

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