Les corps civilisés

Civilising Bodies: Literature, rhetoric, and image, 1700 to the present day 

25th-26th April 2012 
Exeter University

The Centre for Medical History at the University of Exeter is holding an interdisciplinary conference open to postgraduates and academics at any level, taking place on the 25th and 26th April 2013.

The narratives, discourses, and imagery of bodies and their relationship with civilisation have affected a diverse range of media, from novels, poetry, and political tracts to art and film, and we are eager for submissions examining a wide a range of sources from 1700 to the present day.

We welcome abstracts that examine issues surrounding the themes of bodies and civilisation and their relationship to literature and the arts from researchers of any discipline, including History, Art History, Film Studies, Cultural Studies and Literature.

Topics and themes may include:
• Discourses of progress
• Concepts of savagery and barbarism
• The science of race
• Ailments of civilisation
• Medicine and modernity
• Mental health
• Sexuality and the body
• Issues of class and gender
• The politics of medical language
• Theoretical or speculative pieces

Guest Speakers
Dr Lesley Hall (Wellcome Library)
Professor Mark Jackson (University of Exeter)

We invite applicants to submit abstracts of up to 300 words for 20 minute papers (previously unpublished), sent civilisingbodies@gmail.com by 14th January 2012 with the “subject” of the email as ‘Civilising Bodies abstract’.