SECRECY, SECRETS AND LIES IN THE UK
From time immemorial in every culture, a plethora of events has been passed over in silence, shrouded in secrecy, prepared in the greatest secrecy and kept under the seal of secrecy. In this respect, David Vincent’s The Culture of Secrecy: 1832-1998, Oxford, Oxford University Press, offers an invaluable study on the restriction of information from the Victorian era to the end of the 20th century.
From family secrets to bank secrecy, state secret, the secret of investigation, ‘official secret’, professional secrecy, trade secret, military secret, the seal of the confessional, medical confidentiality, secrecy of identity, the secrets of the powers, the secret of happiness, to name a few, this term is polymorph.
Secrecy, secrets and lies deal with politics, spying and more or less recent affairs in connection with environmental research on climate, the Jon Venables case, David Kelly’s death leading to the Hutton Inquiry, Wikileaks unveiling secrets in Afghanistan,
surveillance and security (CCTVs, data protection, industrial spying/security), the 1889 Official Secrets Act, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Right to Know, illegal workers and stowaways on both sides of the Channel, terrorism (e.g. London Bombings), religion, freemasonry and last but not least, medical history and experimentations on animals and human beings, to name a few. The theme of secrecy, secrets and lies has also been the backdrop of numerous films e.g. Secrets and Lies, Mike Leigh (1996), Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee, (2005), Oranges and Sunshine, Jim Loach (2011).
This book will endeavour to enrich the mystery attached to the concept of secrecy which is demonstrated in secrets, confidence, and even privacy.
Articles will endeavour to shed light on the concept of secrecy from various angles:
- the nature and workings of secrecy, its justifications and outcomes for British society and democracy
- the legitimation of secrecy - practices and legislation
- the violation of secrecy
- the tracking down and denunciation of secrecy.
Articles should be 5,000-6,000 words in length with references. Please email enquiries and one or two page proposal to Dr Fabienne Portier-Le Cocq (fabienne.portier@univ-paris13.fr) by 30th June 2012. Articles should be submitted with a brief autobiographical statement by 31st November 2012.
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