Social Control and the Arts: An International Perspective
Introduction by Susan Rubin Suleiman, Alice A. Jardine, and Ruth Perry
The papers we are presenting here constitute a record of what we and most of those present considered to be a major intellectual event. The conference on Social Control and the Arts, held at Harvard University on April 21, 1990, provided a forum for discussion of some of the most important issues facing artists, writers, and intellectuals working in the United States today; and the international scope of the conference not only introduced diverse perspectives and contexts, it also helped us to see the North American situation in a more complex way . . .
We met several times during the fall to talk about the broad, international aspects of the question of censorship — and again, our discussions were fueled by immediate political events, notably the astonishing historical events taking place in Eastern Europe. The question we finally formulated as an overarching question for the conference was the following: “How do different forms of social control — ranging from direct state repression and censorship to more indirect forms of ideological, cultural and financial pressures — affect the production of literary and artistic works in various countries around the world?”