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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