I ;I 2- The Michan Daily - Monday, October 4, 1993 Conference explores concept.- of culture despite criticism By MICHELLE FRICKE and SOMA GUPTA DAILY STAFF REPORTERS Culture is definitely not an object. This weekend one of more than 200 students and faculty members came to this conclusion at the "Cul- ture Conference" held in the Michi- gan Union. The event was sponsored by the Program in the Comparative Study of Social Transformations (CSST) and featured speakers from across the country. "The conference is supposed to tell us whether the concept of culture exists," said Nicholas Dirks, one of the conference's organizers and a pro- fessor of history and anthropology. Organizers were pleased with the outcome of the event as audience members eagerly questioned and re- sponded to the new information that was presented. "I think this conference was very 'The conference Is supposed to tell us whether the concept of culture exists.' - Nicholas Dirks professor of history and anthropology " JONATHAN LURIE/Daiy Nicholas Dirks, one of the conference's organizers and a professor of history and anthropology, and Guar Viswanathan participate in the "Culture Conference" over the weekend in the Michigan Union. The event drew more than 200 students and faculty members. THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Office of International Academic Affairs invites you to attend a public lecture by HIS EXCELLENCY JUAN CASSIERS, AMBASSADOR OF BELGIUM TO THE UNITED STATES on "THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY: THE BELGIAN AGENDA" Monday, October 4, 1993 4:00 p.m. Rackham Amphitheater I :A1:Ii04I( JOSEPH SHAPIRO Author of PT Y People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement Is speaking at the Michigan Union Ballroom Tuesday, October 5, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. Mr. Shapiro will also sign copies of his book, which is on sale at the event. An Investing in Ability Week Event. Michigan Union Programming presents reek Merchands Sale Monday, Oct. 4 - Friday, Oct. 8 ground floor Michigan Union i-shirts jackets shorts Fatory baseball caps Special Close-Ots car decals Orders in Stock pencils Available No Waiteng pens stationery mugs jewelry tote bags pcueframes . & more! Visa, M terdard iscoer, Amrpted stimulating to the people involved," said Michael Kennedy, director of CSST. "It went beyond normal con- ferences because it made us question for whom the conference was for and makes us think further about how conferences live beyond their formal closure." However, the CSST office re- ceived criticism for publicizing the event with aposter ofa Black woman breast-feeding a white child. Embla- zoned across the bottom was the ques- tion, "What's wrong with this pic- ture?" Audience members expressed feelings of pain mixed with under- standing on this sensitive issue. "Anytime that we try to transgress we're going to produce pain, so we've got to learn to deal with the pain if we are going to learn," said Tim McDonough, a graduate student in history. "I think the poster brought these very issues right to the surface so that people who came already knew what needed to be dealt with." Various scholars converged to present their views on the many angles of life, such as sex, race, class and fetishism that pervades culture. One presentation focused on the difficulty of writing intelligibly across cultural Minors sou waivers tog parental co] LANSING (AP)-A total of 597 Michigan minors asked probatejudges for permission to have abortions lastj year, instead of going to a parent, a report obtained by The Associated Press shows. The 597 requests listed in the an- nual report of state courts is slightlyj less than the 617 reported in 1991. But the law was only in effect for; seven months last year, compared with nine months in 1991, so conclusions were hard to draw. "It's hard to say (what it means) unless we've got something more to; compare it to than one year," said EdJ Rivet, a lobbyist for Right to Life of Michigan. But he said fears of courts being flooded with the requests proved to be overblown. QUAKE Continued from page 1 But some students feel it is their responsibility to collect funds and do something about the tragedy. Shah has volunteered to coordinate a fundraising drive through the Indian American Students' Association. Another organization, the Indian Students' Association (ISA), began aJ drive to collect funds last Friday, but the group asks that funds be directly boundaries. "Everything we write now goes to multiple cultures," said Michael Fischer, a professor of anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology. He added that barriers to com- munication should be in the forefront of this discussion. Dialogue at the conference ad- dressed the ever-changing dynamics in the field of ethnology and cultural studies. "The mass of critical people is not present, but theories (in cultuial stud- ies) are rapidly being produced and changed," expressed Ben Lee, a fea- tured speaker at the event. While the conference ended Sun- day, organizers predicted that debate on these issues will certainly con- tinue in the classroom and on the street. "We now see better than before that the University is not just about the pursuit of academia and truth be-. tween students and teachers, but re- ally on the dialogue of staff, students and faculty to push the question of how you get a relationship between culture and oppression," Kennedy said. "So even though the conference has ended, the dialogue should not." ght 597 ibortion nsent law "There were people who were pre- dicting we were going to have 3,000 requests and going to be clogging the courts. Obviously, that hasn't devel- * oped," Rivet said. A supporter of abortion rights said the requirement is superfluous since most girls confide in a parent anyway. "This causes anotherdelay.Itisan additional stress factor on the young woman and it is an unnecessary law," said Carol King, director of theMichi- gan Abortion Rights Action League. Right to Life, the state's largest anti-abortion organization, spear- headed a petition drive that resulted in passage of the measure. The law requires teens 17 and un- der to have a parent's consent for an abortion or seek a waiver from a pro- bate judge. sent to the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. to make sure aid gets to India quickly. "We didn't have that much time. Wejustbroadcastamailing list," ISA President Ashish Mehra, a graduate student in computer science, said. Although Mehra'srelatives in the state of Gujarat in northern India were un- affected, he feels a responsibility to his homeland. He said, "Thirty-thousand people 0 dying doesn't happen every day." NEW BOOKS AT - "USED" PRICES We're Liquidating 100's of: - Remainders " End Runs Closeouts "*Hurts Including Many Current Titles In All Categories I1 I I " Fiction - Engineering - Childrens - Medical - Business -"Art ALL BOOKS WILL SELL AT 1 1' How to Write an Effective Funding Proposal Monday, October 4,1993 Tuesday, October 5, 1993 7:00 - 9:00 PM, Michigan Union The Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives offers seminars to assist students and student organizations in preparing proposals for funding through Student Academic Multicultural Initiatives, an incentive program offered by the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives. At each session, the program coordinator from the office will: " provide detailed explanations on the funding process; U The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745967) is published Monday through Friday during the fail and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. Subscriptions for fali term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $90. Winter term (January through April) is $95, year-long (September through April) is $160. Oncampus subscrip- tions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily Isa member of the Associated Press and the Associated CollegiatePress. ADDRESS: The Michigan Daly, 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 481091327. PHONE NUMBERS (All area code 313): News 78-DAILY; Arts 763.0379; Sports 747-3336; Opinion 764.0552 Circulation 764.0558; Classified advertising 76440557; Display advertising 764-0554; Billing 7640550. 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