Visual Culture Division, CSA conference, Berkeley, CA, March 2010

The Visual Culture Division of Cultural Studies Association invites submissions for the 8th annual meeting of the Cultural Studies Association (US) to be held at the University of California, Berkeley, 18-20 March 2010.

Deadline for abstracts (500 words): 4 September 2009

1. Visual Culture and Privacy

Privacy is generally understood as being alone, freedom from intrusion, or the right of freedom from public attention. With advances in new media, privacy issues have become more pertinent and prevailing to everyday life. For example: governments since 9/11 are using biometric technology for surveillance purposes; DVR and TiVo offer consumers the freedom to watch TV on their own schedules and to fastforward' through commercials, but also allow media companies to track consumer preferences and financial transactions; the use of work related devices such as iPhones, Blackberriesand laptops to conduct work-related activities at home in the 'private sphere' and personal activities at work in the 'public sphere'; the widespread use of social-networking sites to store and share personal information; and the ability to use camera phones to take photos of individuals without their consent or awareness and to circulate personal images in the public sphere.
Considering these new modes of living, does the modern definition of privacy still make sense? How is visual culture changing our understanding of what constitutes privacy? Is privacy possible in the Information Age? What are some of the legal and political ramifications of shifts in the notion of privacy?

Chair: Elizabeth Patton, Doctoral Candidate/Adjunct Instructor Department of Media, Culture and Communication NYU-Steinhardt

2. Open Session on Visual Culture

This session is broadly defined around the theme of current debates in visual culture studies. Papers addressing the theoretical, aesthetic and political limitations of current models and/or new directions in visual culture studies are invited.

Chair: Randal Rogers, Associate Professor Department of Visual Arts University of Regina Regina, Canada

Please include the following with your abstract:

1. Name, email address, phone number, departmental and institutional affiliation.
2. A 500-word (max.) abstract for the 20-minute paper, including title.
3. Audio-visual equipment needs.

Forward proposals to the chair of the division, Randal Rogers, by 4 September 2009 at randal.rogers@uregina.ca