APOLOGIES FOR CROSS POSTING
Call for Papers
Contested Bodies of Childhood and Youth Conference
Department of Geography, University of Durham
17 - 18th July 2006
Confirmed Keynote Speakers:
Professor Angela McRobbie, Goldsmith University of London
Professor Gill Valentine, University of Leeds
Dr Ruth Panelli, University of Otago
Themes
The emergence of ‘new social studies of childhood’ (James et al 1998) has
led to much needed reconceptualisations of childhood and youth, placing
greater focus on the social construction of age and on young people’s
agency. There has, however, been relatively little engagement with
questions of embodiment, despite the major attention that this issue has
received in work on gender, sexuality and ethnicity. An edited collection
by Alan Prout (“The Body, Childhood and Society”, 2000) begins to bridge
this gap, as does work in geography by Gill Valentine, Tracey Skelton and
Elizabeth Teather. However, there remains much scope for debate on
different ways of conceptualising the embodiment of childhood and youth
and for mapping a broader conceptual terrain, especially at a time when
concerns about rising levels of obesity in industrialised countries have
led to a major upsurge in political and media interest, directed mainly at
finding ‘pragmatic’ solutions that, too often, are based on narrow
understandings of child development. This conference invites speakers from
across the humanities and social sciences to discuss how and why bodies of
childhood and youth are contested, reflecting on the potential for gaining
new insights from a range of theoretical perspectives. Possible themes
include:
- performativity and techniques of the body
- landscapes and scales of embodiment
- conceptualising and researching embodiment
- disorderly bodies
- gender and sexuality
- abuse and the disciplining of bodies
- race and ethnicity
- political and media discourses of child and adolescent embodiment
- emotion, affect and potentialities of the body
- educating bodies
- social inequalities, spatial disparities and health
- resisting bodies
- consuming bodies and the politics of food
If you have any questions please contact the organizers:
Kathrin Hörschelmann ([log in to unmask]) or Rachel Colls
([log in to unmask]), Department of Geography, University of
Durham, Science Site, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, Tel: +44-191–3341800,
Fax: +44–191-3341801
To submit a paper, please send an abstract of 200 words to Kathy Wood
([log in to unmask])
Final date for submission of abstracts: 28th April 2006
Additional information
Full Conference Fee £30 (including refreshments)
Students/Unwaged £15
Accommodation will be available at £33.62 plus VAT a night (more details
to follow shortly via Durham Geography Department website
(www.durham.ac.uk/geography/)
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