[ecrea] CfP: Taboo and the media

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  Call for Papers

*TABOO AND THE MEDIA*

University of Bologna - Bertinoro, Italy – September 20th-22nd, 2018

https://eventi.unibo.it/taboo-and-the-media-2018


In a world that seems continuously to be pushing the envelope of what is 
acceptable to the inhabitants of specific linguistic and cultural 
contexts, this interdisciplinary conference acknowledges the importance 
of investigating taboos and their reinforcement/breaking in various 
areas of language, culture and society, and across different cultures. 
We propose to explore the delicate balance and subtle boundaries between 
the need for inclusion and respect for different ethnic, religious, 
sexual, etc. backgrounds – which seems to be at the basis of modern 
multicultural societies – and a (un)conscious push towards the breaking 
of existing taboos, for example for shock value, as in the case of 
comedy and art. In such contexts, investigation of the linguistic, 
cultural, social, institutional and personal implications of taboo 
reinforcement/breaking appears of extreme value.

For its 4th edition, The Taboo Conference series will specifically 
address the intricacies of taboo and/in the media in its various 
occurrences from the points of view of production, performance, and 
perception/reception and in the broadest spectrum of print and virtual 
media. The subject of taboo and/in the media seems to have become 
especially relevant in the last few years, in which political 
correctness at both the institutional and individual level has been 
seen, on the one hand, as a crucial tool in protecting people from 
verbal abuse and in preventing the reinforcement of stereotypes and, on 
the other, as a set of measures and a way of thinking which 
significantly curtail free speech in many aspects of the public sphere.

The 2018 conference seeks to explore the shifting boundaries of the 
acceptability of taboo in their various incarnations as produced and 
perceived in today’s media landscape, from cinema and television, to 
news, videogames, and different kinds of online content. Possible areas 
of inquiry include, for example, political orientations and political 
satire, identity and gender politics, ethnic stereotypes, different 
kinds of non-normative behaviour, political correctness and the 
discourse surrounding it, and the debate between real and perceived 
offense through comedy.

We welcome individual proposals or pre-organized panels from different 
disciplines pertaining – but by no means limited – to the following 
thematic areas and their intersections in various mediatic forms:

  * Sex and sexuality (e.g. nudity, non-normative sexual practices,
    pornography)
  * Racism and sexism (e.g. white supremacy, gender discrimination,
    transphobia)
  * Death and dying (e.g. mortality, ageing, funerals and burials, fatal
    accidents)
  * Sickness, disability, and deformity
  * Scatology (e.g. excreta/effluvia)
  * Politics (e.g. political corruption, political incorrectness,
    prejudice, gender discrimination)
  * Religions and blasphemy (rituals, prejudice, afterlife)
  * Addiction
  * Money (greed, graft, exploitation, waste, extravagance, poverty)
  * Changing social attitudes towards violence, exploitation and abuse
    (prostitution, slavery, trafficking, rape, children’s rights)

Confirmed keynote speakers include *Debra Aarons 
<https://eventi.unibo.it/taboo-and-the-media-2018/keynote-speakers>* (University 
of New South Wales), *Sharon Lockyer 
<https://eventi.unibo.it/taboo-and-the-media-2018/keynote-speakers>* (Brunel 
University), and *Martin Rowson 
<https://eventi.unibo.it/taboo-and-the-media-2018/keynote-speakers>* (cartoonist, 
illustrator, and writer).

The working language for the conference is English. Each paper 
presentation should be scheduled for 15 minutes to be followed by a 
10-minute Q&A to the panel.

300-word abstracts and a brief bionote should be sent to 
*(thetabooconference /at/ gmail.com)* by *15th March 2018* with the subject 
“TaCo2018 – proposal”. If you are interested in submitting a 
pre-organized panel, please contact us by the same deadline.

Notification of acceptance for both abstracts and panels will be given 
by *15th April 2018*.



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