The Fifth International Somatechnics Conference: The Technologisation
of Bodies and Selves
Call for papers: Abstracts are invited for an international
conference to be held in Sydney, Australia, on April 16th-18th 2009.
Abstracts should be 300-500 words and should be forwarded to A/Prof
Nikki Sullivan at the address listed below. Proposals for panels and
for performance pieces are welcome.
“Somatechnics” is a recently coined term used to highlight the
inextricability of soma and techné, of the body (as a culturally
intelligible construct) and the techniques (dispositifs and ‘hard
technologies’) in and through which bodies are formed and
transformed. This term, then, supplants the logic of the ‘and’,
indicating that technés are not something we add to or apply to the
body, but rather, are the means in and through which bodies are
constituted, positioned, and lived. As such, the term reflects
contemporary understandings of the body as the incarnation or
materialization of historically and culturally specific discourses
and practices.
Possible topics:
Somatechnologies of the self (‘non-mainstream’ body modification,
body sculpting, performance, fashion, drug use, ‘self-mutilation’,
religious practice, etc)
medical somatechnologies (cosmetic, reproductive, imaging,
corrective, sex (re)assignment, implantation, enhancement, bio-techs,
public health initiatives, etc)
somatechnics of law
somatechnologies of gender, sexuality, race, class, etc
somatechnologies of normalcy and pathology
somatechnics of war
somatechnologies of the post-human (cyborgs, nanotechnology,
virtuality, etc)
soma-ethics
Deadline for abstracts: November 30th 2008
Keynote Speakers include:
Claudia Castaneda (Brandeis University)
Nichola Rumsey (University of the West of England)
Jennifer Terry (University of California, Irvine)
Further information:
The Somatechnics Conference Committee
Somatechnics Research Centre
Division of Society, Media, Culture and Philosophy
Macquarie University
North Ryde
New South Wales 2109
Australia
Email: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
Phone: +61 (0)2 9850 8760
Somatechnics Research Centre Website: http://www.somatechnics.mq.edu.au
__________________________________
Jessica Cadwallader
Administrator
Somatechnics Research Centre
Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy
Macquarie University
NSW 2109 Australia
http://www.somatechnics.mq.edu.au
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