Big Brother Seminar

Title: Governing Celebrity: Multiculturalism, Offensive Television Content and Celebrity Big Brother 2007

Venue: Friday 8 May 2009, 2-4 pm, at The Law School, 4 Little Titchfield Street, London W1W 7UW in Room 2.05a.

Introduction: In January 2007, the fifth series of Celebrity Big Brother caused outrage and widespread condemnation when three contestants, including most notably the reality television star Jade Goody, were accused of racism towards their fellow contestant Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. The contributions in the special issue offer a multidisciplinary analysis of the ensuing scandal that caused diplomatic tensions between India and the UK and triggered a record number of complaints to the media regulator Ofcom. The Session will be chaired by Professor Les Moran (Birkbeck), and a selection of papers from the special issue will be presented. These will include Dania Thomas (‘Race and the refusal to name racism: consumption, identity and choice in the Celebrity Big Brother House’) and Lieve Gies (‘Celebrity Big Brother, Human Rights and Popular Culture’). The papers will be discussed by Bettina Lange (Oxford). Read more

• Powerpoint Slides from Seminar ^(PDF)

Photo Gallery

Louise Thorley, OFCOM

Les Moran, Chair of session