Nele Noppe's Library tagged censorship →  View Popular

I personally am pleased with the EOCS’ decision. It is an important rejection of a deeply offensive form of expression.

I would not have been pleased if it had been the Japanese government that had decided to ban such material. There is a world of difference between government censorship and the rejection of certain forms of expression as unacceptable by private groups.

Workshop on Popular Culture, Cultural Policy, and Cultural Discourse
in East and Southeast Asia, June 1-2, 2009, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem

The workshop on Popular Culture, Cultural Policy, and Cultural
Discourse in East and Southeast Asia, will be held at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, Israel. The purpose of this workshop is to
conduct a comparative and multi-sited study of the emergence of the
popular cultural industries of East and Southeast Asia, examine the
corresponding cultural policies initiated by the various states in the
region, and construct an empirically-plausible framework to examine
related issues. The workshop will particularly focus on the cases of
Chinese, Japanese, and Korean poplar cultures: their emergence,
expansion to other markets in the region, and the discourse they
create.

Panel 1: Popular Culture, Regionalization, and the State
1. Amitav Acharya, American University,
"Culture, Regionalism and Southeast Asian Identity"
2. Galia Press-Barnathan, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Does Popular Culture Matter to International Relations Scholars?
Possible Links and Methodological Challenges"
3. Nissim Otmazgin, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"A Tail that Wags the Dog: Cultural Industry and Cultural Policy in East Asia"
Commentator: Arie Kacowicz, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Panel 2: Cultural Flows and Soft Power
1. Chua Beng Huat, National University of Singapore
"Delusional Desire: Soft Power and TV Dramas"
2. Jean Marie Bouissou, Science-Po
"From Niche Market to Hypermarkets: The Birth, Growth and Maturation
of the French Manga Market"
3. Eldad J. Pardo, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"The Comeback of Iran's Z $B{ (Brkh $Bb (Bneh: Ancient Heroes in the Global Age"
Commentator: Eyal Ben Ari, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Panel 3: Cultural Policy in the Making
1. Kozuka Souichirou, Sophia University
"Copyright Law as a Tool of New Industrial Policy?: Japan's
Unsuccessful Attempt to Promote its Contents Industry"
2. Kukhee Choo, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
"Cool Japan Nation: Japanese Governmental Policy towards the Anime Industry"
3. Jung-Yup Lee, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"Managing the Transnational, Governing the National:
Cultural Policy and the Politics of "Cultural Archetype Project in South Korea"
Commentator: Ehud Harari, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Panel 4: Cultural Industry and Cultural Discourse
1. Miki Daliot-Bul, Haifa University
"The New 'Japan Brand': Cool Japan as Zeitgeist"
2. Pang Laikwan, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
"Censorship against Ghosts: China's Cultural Policy Historicized"
3. Kwai Cheung Lo, Hong Kong Baptist University
"Historical Tensions in East Asian Popular Culture and the Roles of the State"
Commentator: Chua Beng Huat, National University of Singapore

Panel 5: Cultural Production and Social Change
1. Marwyn S. Samuels, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"The Media Industry, Popular Culture and Social Change in Contemporary China"
2. Shin Hyunjoon, Sungkonghoe University
"Trans/National Cultural Industries as an Agency of Regionalization?
The Case of South Korea"
3. Cherian George, Nanyang Technological University
"Silence and Protest in Singapore's Censorship Debates"
Commentator: Nir Avieli, Ben-Gurion University

Panel 6: A Comparative Perspective: Popular Culture in the Middle East
1. Wael Abu-Uksa, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"State and New Media in the Middle East: An Overview"
2. Sariel Birnbaum, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Historical Audio-Visual Dramas: From Egyptian Dominance to a Pan-Arab
Satellite Discourse"
3. Tal Shenhav, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Broadcasting the Future Generation: Gender Messages for Women and
Youth in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia"

Panel 7: Concluding Comments and Open Discussion
Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University
Eyal Ben Ari, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem


For further information and registration please contact Dr. Nissim
Otmazgin at nissimot@mscc.huji.ac.il

This week Parliament will discuss a new Bill which will make it a criminal
offence to possess cartoons depicting certain forms of child abuse. If the
Coroners and Justice Bill remains unaltered it will make it illegal to own
any picture of children participating in sexual activities, or present
whilst sexual activity took place.

The Ministry of Justice claims that the Bill is needed to clamp down on the
growing quantity of hardcore paedophilic cartoon porn available on the
internet, particularly from Japan. But critics of the legislation say the
current definitions are so sweeping that it risks stifling mainstream
artistic expression as well as turning thousands of law abiding comic book
fans into potential sex offenders.