Cradled in Caricature
a multi-disciplinary postgraduate symposium
Monday 20 June 2011
Woolf SR3/4, University of Kent, Canterbury
Woolf SR3/4, University of Kent, Canterbury
“When writing a novel a writer should create living people;
people not characters. A character is a caricature.”
Ernest Hemingway
people not characters. A character is a caricature.”
Ernest Hemingway
This one-day postgraduate symposium (supported by a Postgraduate Experience Award from The Graduate School at the University of Kent) will approach the notion of ‘caricature’ in its broadest sense, using it as a jumping-off point for discussions on exaggeration, stereotyping, representation, and characterisation. The symposium therefore intends to explore the following problems:
- The tendency of societies and cultures to frame themselves within traditions of exaggeration and stereotype.
- The ways in which art and fiction utilise caricature to convey meaning, and to what extent nonfiction uses the same processes.
- The relevance of theories of political economy, psychology, and perception to this apparent desire of individuals and group to cradle themselves (willingly or otherwise) in caricature.
Caricature permeates society. The consequence of this process can be seen in satirical cartoons appearing in newspapers, the perception of early colonialists towards non-European cultures, and the design of characters in Hollywood blockbusters. It is clear then that any discussion of caricature in communication, society and culture is suited to a multi-disciplinary arena.
Postgraduates from across the University of Kent have been selected to contribution to the symposium, and will explore the themes of the conference through a combination of papers, workshops and roundtable discussions. A small number of those contributions, chosen for their quality and originality, will be invited to speak at at the Cradled in Caricature conference (TBC early 2012), and considered for adaptation and publication in Skepsi, the University of Kent’s Interdisciplinary Online Journal of European Thought and Theory in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Attendance at the Cradled in Caricature symposium is free of charge, and the Cradled in Caricature organisation committee would like to invite all postgraduates and early-career scholars to this event.
Should you have any queries or questions please direct them to Dr James Baker at cradledincaricature@gmail.com or twitter.com/cincaricature.
Postgraduates from across the University of Kent have been selected to contribution to the symposium, and will explore the themes of the conference through a combination of papers, workshops and roundtable discussions. A small number of those contributions, chosen for their quality and originality, will be invited to speak at at the Cradled in Caricature conference (TBC early 2012), and considered for adaptation and publication in Skepsi, the University of Kent’s Interdisciplinary Online Journal of European Thought and Theory in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Attendance at the Cradled in Caricature symposium is free of charge, and the Cradled in Caricature organisation committee would like to invite all postgraduates and early-career scholars to this event.
Should you have any queries or questions please direct them to Dr James Baker at cradledincaricature@gmail.com or twitter.com/cincaricature.
Cradled in Caricature symposium
Schedule
10am REGISTRATION/WELCOME
10.15-10.30am James Baker, ‘Cradled in what?’
10.30-11.15am Session 1
Masculinities Chair: James Baker
- Christian Moretti, ‘Virilized Men: the Urgency of Stereotyping and Its Inapplicability in Elsa Morante’s Arturo’s Island.’
- Stelios Christodoulou, ‘“You can tell by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man: no time to talk” 70s Masculinities in Saturday Night Fever (1977)’
11.15-11.30am TEA/COFFEE
11.30am-12.15pm Session 2
Panel A- Parodies Chair: Vered Weiss
- Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone, ‘Parodia’
- Danielle Thom, ‘Bute the Boot: Caricature Without a Face in the 1760s’
Panel B - Four(or more)-Leggeds Chair: Pete Sillett
- Reeta Kangas, ‘Nazi Dogs and Hitler's Cattle: Animals as a Device of Caricature in Pravda Political Cartoons 1941-1945.’
- Diane Heath, ‘Caricatures and Exemplars in the production of monsters’
12.15-12.30pm Drawing from Description
12.30-1.15pm LUNCH
1.15-2pm Session 3
Panel A - Censorship Chair: Jan Barker
- Eleni Loukopoulou, ‘Caricature and Censorship: David Low, James Joyce and “Jix” in the 1920s’
- Will Studdert, ‘"The Death of Music": Jazz through the Eyes of the Nazis’
Panel B - Africa Chair: Jack Hogan
- Daniel Ruhweza, ‘Justice and the Lord’s Resistance Army’
- Stephen London, ‘Apartheid Cartoons: Humour, Rejection, Reality and a Failure of Sympathy’
2-2.45pm Session 4
Panel A - Insides outside Chair: Eleni Loukopoulou
- Pete Sillett, ‘Drawn People In Drawn Places: Caricature According To T. Hee’
- Alice White, ‘Psychiatrists & Crazy Kids’
Panel B - Heroes and Villains Chair: Reeta Kangas
- Jacob Bradsher, ‘Villainous caricature in Science-fiction’
- Caleb Turner, 'Super-Bodies: Viewing Truth through Magnification'
2.45-3.30pm Session 5 - ROUNDTABLE
- ‘Where is the Line?’ (James Baker, Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone and TBC)
3.30-3.45pm TEA/COFFEE
3.45-5pm Session 6 - WORKSHOP
- ‘Create Your Own 1920s Advert’ (Michael Kliegl & Rebecca Farmer)
5-5.10pm CLOSING REMARKS
