L'eau et les fluides corporels

Water and Body Fluids 

Call for papers

INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR OF CORPUS

Timisoara, November 28th & 29th 2014

In continuing with the tradition of CORPUS and the Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Timisoara, we would like to invite you to another interdisciplinary conference. The theme of the 2014 international seminar of CORPUS is dedicated to water, body fluids and their attributes as objects of anthropological study under the title: Waters & Body Fluids.

Stating that water is a most essential requisite for life is like stating that the sun rises in the East. Neither statement can possibly leave an audience insisting on proof. When exploring the question “does life exist or has once existed” anywhere, always hinges on finding out if water exists or has existed. When the famous historian Herodotus said “Egypt is the gift of the Nile”, he could not have been more biologically accurate. The biological functions which depend on water cover the entire span of biological function for any known organism. Only to list a few, because of its high specific heat capacity it keeps the body temperature almost constant, it transport nutrients and oxygen to all parts of the body, it is the medium and solvent for all chemical reactions collectively constituting metabolism, it is also a medium through which waste can be excreted in urine, it offers some lubricating capacity, etc. Water is also known to cause deadly damage to life if and when it comes in the forms of deluge, tsunamis, or hurricanes. Also on a biological level, over hydration can be just as deadly as under hydration. The seminar pursues several themes:

• Water and its symbolism
• Water & purity
• Water & savoir-vivre
• Water, fluids & Construction of the gender
• Water & material culture
• Potability of water
• Anthropology of thirst

We invite the researchers interested by in the subject to submit their intention of participating (title of the paper, accompanied by submitting a 300 word abstract and the professional affiliation of the author/authors written in French or English- the languages of the seminar). Please use the address provided below to send your proposal to Frédéric Duhart, Gabriela Mariana Luca & Jérôme Thomas.

Frédéric Duhart: frederic.duhart@orange.fr

Gabriela-Mariana Luca: luca.gabriela@gmail.com

Jérôme Thomas: jerome.thomas@univ-montp3.fr

Submission deadline: September, 5th 2014

The results of the selection process, following an evaluation by an international scientific committee, will be published until by the 25 of September 2014. The contributions of the seminar will be published in a peer reviewed volume, e-book.

Seminar Coordination
Gabriela-Mariana Luca, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Jérôme Thomas, Paul Valery University

Scientific Committee
Sultana Avram, Senior Lecturer, Lucian Blaga University Sibiu, Rumania
Frédéric Duhart, Teacher Researcher, Mondragon University, Spain
José Luis Grosso, Professor, National University of Catamarca, Argentina
Gabriela-Mariana Luca, Senior lecturer, Victor Babes U. of Med. and Pharmacy, Rumania
Mohey Mowafy, Emeritus Professor, Northern Michigan University, United States
Andrei Motoc, Professor, Victor Babes U. of Med. and Pharmacy, Rumania
Dan Nemeş, Professor, Victor Babes U. of Med. and Pharmacy, Rumania
Slobodan Dan Paich, Professor, Artship Foundation San Francisco, United States
Jérôme Thomas, Senior Lecturer, Paul Valery University, France