About the Conference

Dates: November 2 to November 4, 2015

Freedom of expression seems to be a cherished ideal however dynamics of freedom of expression are constantly changing because of the power structures. According to Dominique Moisi geopolitics in the contemporary world is characterized by a ‘clash of emotions.’ The three dominant emotions that drive the relationship of countries with the rest of the world are ‘fear, humiliation, and hope.’ Moisi suggests that most of the Muslim world is driven by humiliation that devolves into hatred. ‘Blasphemy’ by the West ignites this process. That is why freedom of expression should not be absolute. It should not provoke or humiliate values and beliefs or incite hatred against a specific religion, culture, caste, and creed. Limitations serve as an authorization to protect the rights or reputations of others and to maintain law and order on the larger scale. The conference strives to analyze different dimensions of freedom of expression and how it is related to global and local politics of emotions. Papers may be submitted for the following themes (however not restricted to the following).

Objectives of the conference:
The conference strives to analyze different dimensions of freedom of expression and how it is related to global and local politics of emotions. The major focus is:

  • To chalk out meta narratives of freedom of speech in the global and multicultural context;
  • To define parameters of cyber world and hate speech and how the usage of cyber world can contribute to peaceful coexistence;
  • To serve as a platform for better understanding and conceptualization of legal perspectives and remedies on blasphemy available at different levels ;
  • To serve as a platform for deliberation on cartoon communication as an art and as a journalistic genre and ethical dilemmas related to cartoon communication
  • To promote dialogue and debate for a better conceptualization of blasphemy from different religions’ perspectives and its reinterpretation in the contemporary world;
  • To explore the contending narratives of sacred and secular from political, economic and cultural perspectives.

The parallel sessions are as follows:

Selected papers will be published in the conference number of the Journal of Media Studies www.jms.edu.pk