INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY/INTELLECTUAL PIRACY

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary, scholarly and artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images. But what does it mean to own ideas, music, art, or designs as property? Is it a bellwether of capitalist logic or a vital guardian of individual creation?  And what do we make of current attempts to blur the lines between creation and appropriation such as musical “mash-ups” and mixed media literature in our current moment or in cultural borrowings of the past (such as the recitation of works by “Homer”)?  Are these instances of intellectual property or of piracy? At this moment of digital reproduction and manipulation, crowd sourcing, sharing economies, and on-line collaboration, we will investigate the concept, benefits, and/or damages of intellectual property and intellectual piracy.

Lectures

All lectures begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted, and are held in the Daniel Family Commons, which is located in the Usdan University Center.

 

Artist Levellers and Digital Diggers

02/20/2017

DAVID LOWERY• University of Georgia

 

The Invention of Copyright Piracy in late 19th Century America

02/27/2017

STEVEN WILF • University of Connecticut

 

Democratic Looking

03/06/2017

CLAIRE GRACE • Wesleyan University

 

How Do People Get News Online?

04/03/17

CHRISTIAAN HOGENDORN • Wesleyan University

 

Authenticity and Terror

04/10/2017

DAVID JOSELIT • Graduate Center CUNY (Lecture will be at the Russell House)

 

CANCELLED

04/17/2017

 

How the Romans Abolished Slavery in the Enlightenment

04/24/2017

DAN EDELSTEIN • Stanford University

 

Many Paths to the Great Spirit: Recontextualizing the New Age Appropriation of Indigenous Shamanism

05/01/2017

JUSTINE QUIJADA • Wesleyan University

 

The Aesthetics of the “Common”: A Challenge to the Notion of Intellectual Property?

05/08/2017

CHRISTINE ROSS • McGill