Les corps parlants

Talking Bodies

Call for papers

HOST: Emma Rees, Institute of Gender Studies, University of Chester, UK

DATES: 19th-22nd April, 2017

VENUE: The University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester, CH1 4BJ, UK

PAPER PROPOSALS: This is the third biennial, international, interdisciplinary TALKING BODIES conference, and 20-minute papers are invited on topics related to its themes. Scholars, practitioners, researchers and postgraduate students from a wide range of disciplines (art, performance, art history, social history, and history of science, medical humanities, literary criticism, theology, (eco)feminism, political theory, medicine, jurisprudence, and more) are invited to submit proposals. Questions to be considered include (but are absolutely not limited to):

• Where do gender and ideology intersect on the site of ‘the body’?
• How do visual artists represent the complexities of the embodied self? Or, how can writers, performers, or musicians do so?
• How does the idea of the ‘taboo’ impact on self-perception? How do writers and artists articulate that taboo?
• How is sexual identity articulated by and in the body?
• What happens when the ‘talking body’ conflicts with the ‘talking mind’?
• How do (consensual or non-consensual) body modifications silence the body, or ‘allow’ it to ‘talk’?
• What relationships do erotica, porn and the ‘obscene’ have with the embodied self?
• How does representation of the body facilitate political activism?
• Is language ever sufficient in talking about bodies?

In addition to the conference presentations, there will be a ‘Marketplace’ with book and craft stalls; our legendary feminist pub quiz; a vegetarian conference banquet; and much more!

You can read about the 2013 and 2015 TALKING BODIES conferences here: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/vagina-dialogue-and-bodies-in-evidence/2002780.article and here: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/self-reflective-study-the-rise-of-mesearch/2019097.article

ABSTRACTS of no more than 250 words should be emailed as Word (NOT pdf, please) documents to the conference organiser, Emma Rees, at talkingbodies@chester.ac.uk

Panel proposals, poster presentations, and alternative or innovative presentation modes are also welcome.

DEADLINE for submission of abstracts: Monday, 7th November, 2016

CONFERENCE ORGANISER: Emma Rees, Institute of Gender Studies