Drawing the Line: Race, Gender, Ethics, and the Arts

Where do we draw the line? If we take the aphorism that morals have aesthetic criteria, then how should we think about the study and practice of the arts and intersections between arts, ethics, and politics? Twenty-first century social movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo raised our consciousness and motivated change, while banned curriculum, debates about academic freedom, and challenges to democracy and human rights highlight the importance and limits of artistic production as an agent for change. Scholars and activists have long argued that racial politics and gender dynamics are always at work in ethical frameworks and artistic production, but it is only more recently that there have been widespread calls to acknowledge the moral imperative for all of us, across disciplines, to reckon with race and gender.

Drawing the Line: Race, Gender, Ethics, and the Arts is designed to explore these claims and stimulate rich discussions about the ethical dimensions of artistic production. This conference is rooted in the assumption that the relationship between ethics and the arts has always fascinated thinkers. If ethics concern moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity, then there are many ways that the arts provoke us to confront ethical challenges, from direct connections between the messages conveyed by stage works, vocal music, and visual art to the more subtle ethical dimensions of art that challenge our perceptions and prompt debate. We are interested in how and to what extent art can do ethical work, illuminating and engaging with social justice issues, and instigating change.