NEW: Click here to view clips from the Edward Snowden interview with Barton Gellman, courtesy of the Los Angeles Review of Books.

What Cannot Be Said: Freedom of Expression in a Changing World

January 22 – 24, 2016



The Forum for the Academy and the Public is pleased to announce our 2016 conference, Freedom of Expression in a Changing World: What Cannot Be Said, which will take place on January 22nd, 23rd, and 24th at the UCI and USC campuses.

Timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, this conference will look at the changing parameters of freedom of expression in a rapidly shifting world. We’ll be talking about freedom of expression on campus, and about the digital era, the law, and freedom of expression. Another panel will address problems of freedom of expression and journalism in conditions of repression. A further panel will address the conflicts and possible concords between freedom of expression and religious belief. Edward Snowden will appear via the web in conversation with his biographer, the prize-winning American journalist and author Barton Gellman. The Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan and Zunar, the embattled Malaysian cartoonist, will be among the many brilliant and insightful participants. Steve Mumford, whose outstanding paintings of secure locations off-limits to photojournalists have broken the boundaries of repression, will be speaking and presenting his work. There will be a roundtable of notable political cartoonists discussing their drawings, censorship, and self-censorship. Sandra Tsing Loh and Azhar Usman will perform stand-up with Q&A after their performances about the extent of comedians’ freedom of expression. UCLA historian David Myers will lead a discussion about tolerance and intolerance of and by religion with NPR’s Krista Tippett, USC’s Sherman Jackson, Rabbi Sharon Brous and novelist Laila Lalami. The conference will end with a grand finale musical performance by a surprise musical guest and a discussion of race and rap lyrics led by USC law professor Jody Armour.

The event is open to students and the public.

Sponsors include:

Law School, UCI

School of Humanities, UCI

Literary Journalism Program, UCI

Humanities Commons, UCI

Center for Asian Studies, UCI

Illuminations, UCI

Institute for International, Global, and Regional Studies, UCI

The Newkirk Center for Science and Society, UCI

The Los Angeles Review of Books

Center for Law, History and Culture, Gould School of Law, USC.

Annenberg Knight Program for Media & Religion, USC

The Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics, USC

Center for Islamic Thought, Culture and Practice, USC

English Department, USC

The USC Office of the Provost

USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Center for the Study of Religion, UCLA

Department of English, UCLA

Department of History, UCLA

The Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History, UCLA