Defining Culture: Who, What, Why?
1-3 April 2004
Hilton College Station
and Conference Center

Conference Director: Antonio La Pastina

The Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanites Research is pleased to announce a conference that addresses the who, what and why of "culture." Who defines, produces, participates in, studies, and otherwise engages with culture? What are the patterns, processes, and diverse manifestations of human (or non-human) culture? Why are we interested in understanding culture, how does culture come to have political significance, and how might we find ways of understanding culture from different methodological and theoretical perspectives?

See a PDF of our program here.

Marjorie Garber, William J. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and Director, Humanities Center, Harvard University

Frans de Waal, C. H. Candler Professor of Primate Behavior and Director, Living Links Center, Emory University

John Downing, Director, Center for Global Media Research, Southern Illinois University

Ibrahim K. Sundiata, Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and Afro-American Studies, Brandeis University

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS 25 MARCH 2004

There is no fee to register for the conference.

Meals will be provided for lunch and dinner on 2 April and lunch on 3 April.

In order to help us plan, please indicate what meals you will attend by faxing or emailing us the information below.

I will be present for:

_____ Lunch, 2 April 2004
_____ Dinner, 2 April 2004
_____ Lunch, 3 April 2004
_____ I would prefer a vegetarian option for my meals.

Please return this form by fax to 979-458-3681 or email by 25 March 2004. For additional information, please email glasscock@tamu.edu or call the Glasscock Center at (979) 845-8328.

ROOM RESERVATIONS

RESERVATIONS ARE DUE BY 15 MARCH 2004

Rates are $80 per night (plus 13% hotel tax) for single and double room and reservations will be held until 4:00 p.m., 15 March.

After 15 March, requests for rooms are subject to availablity and the above rates are not guaranteed. Cancellations and refunds must be made 48 hours prior to arrival. Check-in time is 4 p.m. Bags may be checked at the Bell Stand for early arrivals. Check-out time is noon.

For reservations please call 1-800-HILTONS and refer to the group code GLA.

Or

Go on-line at www.hiltoncs.com and refer to the group code GLA.

The Hilton College Station is located at:

801 University Drive
College Station, TX 77840-2116
(979) 693-7500

Thursday, 1 April

7:30 - 9:00 p.m. KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Welcome: James M. Rosenheim, Director, The Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M University
Announcements: Antonio La Pastina, “Defining Culture” Director
Introduction: Mary Ann O’Farrell, English, Texas A&M University
Marjorie Garber, William J. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and Director, Humanities Center, Harvard University: Patronizing the Arts

9:00 p.m. Reception with Cash Bar

Friday, 2 April

8:45 - 9:15 a.m. Coffee and Opening Remarks

9:30 - 10:45a.m. THE ROLES OF CULTURE
Chair: David McWhirter, English, Texas A&M University
Marc Manganaro, English, Rutgers University: Defining Culture’s Past, Present and Future
Luc Faucher, Philosophy, University of Québec at Montréal: An Integrative Theory of Culture

10:45 - 11:00 a.m. Coffee Break

11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. MEDIATING CULTURE
Chair: James Rosenheim, History, Texas A&M University Elizabeth Datlowe, English, New York University: Left Behind: The Modern Literary World and Popular Culture
Jane M. Ferguson, Anthropology, Cornell University: Global Culture, National Language, and Local Politics at the Thai-Burma Border
Patrick Burkart, Communication, Texas A&M University: Content is Culture is King

12:15 - 2:00 p.m. Lunch

2:15 - 3:45 p.m. CULTURAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE OTHER
Chair: Sarah Gatson, Sociology, Texas A&M University
Larry W. Yarak, History, Texas A&M University: Acculturation, Class and Racism: The Remarkable Life of ‘Prince’ Kwasi Boakye
Darrell Newton, Communication, Salisbury University: The Cultural Production of the West Indian Immigrant by the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Television Service, 1936-2001
Joelle Neulander, History, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina: The Sound of Dangerous Exotics: The Colonial on Home Radios in Interwar France

3:45 - 4:00 p.m. Afternoon Break: Coffee, Tea and Soda

4:00 - 5:30 p.m. KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Introduction: Antonio La Pastina, Communication, Texas A&M University
John Downing, Director, Center for Global Media Research, Southern Illinois University: Globalized Anti-Globalization: Evaluating the Indymedia Phenomenon After Nearly Five Years

7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Dinner

8:30 - 10:00 p.m. PERFORMANCE: The Therapy Sisters

Saturday, 3 April

8:30 - 9:00 a.m. Morning Coffee

9:00 - 10:15 a.m. ON “ORDERING” THE WORLD
Chair: Gregor Kalas, Architecture, Texas A&M University John Fenn and Lisa Gilman, Performance Studies, Texas A&M University: That’s the Badness of Our Culture: The Intersection of Theorized and Everyday Concepts of Culture
Thomas G. Beischer, History, Theory and Criticism of Art and Architecture, MIT: Reception of J.J.P. Oud
Roger Sansom, Philosophy, Texas A&M University: Empirical Limits on the Theory of Cultural Evolution

10:15 - 10:30 a.m. Coffee Break

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Introduction: Colin Allen, Philosophy, Texas A&M University
Frans de Waal, C. H. Candler Professor of Primate Behavior and Director, Living Links Center, Emory University: The Ape and the Sushi Master: Do Other Animals Have Culture?

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Buffet Lunch

1:30 - 2:45 p.m. THEORIZING CULTURE FROM THE MARGINS
Chair: Theodore George, Philosophy, Texas A&M University
Whitney Strub, History, University of California-Los Angeles: Utterly Without Redeeming Social Value: Defining Obscenity in Postwar America
Sean K. Kelly, Philosophy and English, West Texas A&M University: Derrida, Culture, and the Problem of Trust
Vanessa Raney, History, Claremont Graduate University: Gramsci Outside of Marx? Defining Culture in Gramscian Terms By Way of the Prison Notebooks

3:00 - 4:15 p.m. REPRODUCING CULTURE
Chair: Anthony Mora, History, Texas A&M University
Ron Lembo, Anthropology and Sociology, Amherst College: The Importance of a Viewing Culture to Television Studies
Karen Gwinn Wilkins, Radio-TV-Film, University of Texas at Austin: Constructing Gender Across Cultural Space: Japan’s International Development Program
John Power, location, Cowboys and Indians: The Foundations of a Negative Identity and Tools for Resistance

4:15 - 4:30 p.m. Break

4:30 - 6:00 p.m. CONCLUDING KEYNOTE ADDRESS Introduction: Larry W. Yarak, History, Texas A&M University
Ibrahim K. Sundiata, Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and Afro-American Studies, Brandeis University, Signifying “Black,” Africa as Metonym