Source: Philip Nel, 785-532-2165, email philnel@k-state.edu
http://www.ksu.edu/english/symposium

Monday, February 9, 2004

SEX IS THE TOPIC FOR K-STATE'S 13TH ANNUAL CULTURAL STUDIES SYMPOSIUM, MARCH 4-6

MANHATTAN -- Let's talk about sex. "Sex and the Body Politic" is the topic for Kansas State University's 13th Annual Cultural Studies Symposium, March 4-6.

Guest speakers, whose talks are free and open to the public, are Carl Phillips, who will read from his poetry, Thursday, March 4, at 8 p.m. in the K-State Student Union Room 212; Elizabeth Grosz, who will speak on "The Future of Female Sexuality" on Friday, March 5, at 8 p.m. in the K-State Student Union Little Theatre; and Donald Hall, who will speak on "Queer Bodies: Failures of Instrumentality" on Saturday, March 6, at 1 p.m. in Union 212. Attending other sessions requires a registration fee, but K-State undergraduates can attend any session for free.

"Sex is everywhere in our culture but very rarely do we talk about it with any intellectual depth," said Michele Janette, K-State English professor.

"There's a great intellectual tradition about sex that goes back to the ancients," said Greg Eiselein, also a K-State English professor. Sex has been a big topic for thinkers for a long, long time."

This conference, Eiselein said, will provide new and exciting approaches to an important if familiar topic. To address these issues, conference participants will investigate connections between sex and topics like identity, ethics, religion, nationalism, and rebellion. Panelists will present papers on topics ranging from "Gendering Empire in the James Bond Series" to "Chile, Sex, and Texas Nationalism," from "Feminine Eros in Classical and Late Antiquity" to "Fat Pornography: A Legitimizing Force?"

Elizabeth Grosz, who Eiselein describes as "one of the foremost philosophers in the world," is professor of women's and gender studies at Rutgers, and the author of many books, including "Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism" and the recent "Architecture from the Outside: Essays on Virtual and Real Space." Carl Phillips' most recent book is "Rock Harbor." Phillips is professor of English and of African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Donald E. Hall, chair of the department of English at California State University at Northridge, is the author, most recently, of "Queer Theories" and "Academic Self: An Owner's Manual."

K-State has sponsored the Cultural Studies Symposium since 1991, making it the longest running annual symposium in its field. This year's conference is organized by two English professors: Michele Janette and Donna Potts.

"From clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic church, to repressive Taliban policies toward women in Afghanistan, to same sex marriage, to debates about how gender should be determined, sex is a topic that gathers lavish popular and critical attention," Potts said. "'Sex and the Body Politic' considers the construction of sexual identity as a function of political, social, and economic forces."

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