Shame on You: Theorising shame, pride and community in contemporary culture

About

This symposium explores sexual and bodily shame in relation to theorising ideas surrounding shame, pride and community. Recent advances in ‘equality’ have seen an explosion of pride within the LGBT community but what has been gained and what has been lost by insisting that we are proud to be gay?

Can experiences and displays of shame work productively to retain our outsiderhood and resist homo-normative assimilation into wider cultures or is the integration of LGBT communities a necessary journey to full citizenship and equality? What disreputable aspects of homosexuality are rendered silent by pride and how can shame address dissident gender identities. What are the connections of visibility to pride and shame? How do the intersections of race and class shape notions of shame and pride? In this day-long symposium we will cast light on contemporary manifestations of the relations between shame and stigma, exposure, conformity and power.

As part of the symposium we will host an aural presentation by Shame Chorus, a research project made in collaboration with the London Gay Men’s Chorus, the Freud Museum and Susie Orbach and funded by the Arts Council England. 

Convened by Jordan McKenzie (CCW) and Akosua Bonsu (UCL).
This event is presented by the Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Graduate School Public Programme. 
Project partner: Fringe Centre, University College London. 

http://events.arts.ac.uk/event/2018/2/9/SYMPOSIUM-Shame-on-You-Theorising-shame-pride-and-community-in-contemporary-culture/