Dear all,
Below is a call for papers for the University of Southampton's Seminar
series on "The Transforming Body in Popular Culture".
CfP:
There has recently been an intensification of interest in the changing body
in popular culture, from films and writing focusing on the makeover
phenomenon or gender reassignment, to reality TV programmes detailing
surgical alteration, to health-, celebrity- and horror-focused narratives
presenting transformation sentimentally or monstrously. These contemporary
perspectives are embedded in a longer history of transformation stories in
classical/post-classical cinema, literature, photography, art and
performance.
In 2007 Southampton University will be hosting a series of seminars
considering the unique position of the transforming body within popular
culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This series will
provide a forum at which these sensational spectacles and cultural
artefacts can be addressed in the context of a reassessment of established
theories of the body, providing new ways of framing and understanding body
culture. Possible areas of interest might include:
• Make-over narratives and ‘Cinderella stories’
• Gender and transgender
• The transforming celebrity body
• Medical/surgical narratives
• The hybrid or obscene body
• Body art, performance art and fetish culture
• Monstrosity, plasticity and body horror
• The body as sick/damaged or whole/perfected
We are open to proposals focusing on any revealing or provocative cultural
phenomena and texts, from a wide range of perspectives and disciplines.
Please email abstracts of 250 words to [log in to unmask] and
[log in to unmask] by 23rd February 2007. If your proposal is accepted, you
will be invited to present a paper of 30 minutes at Southampton University,
UK, at one of our four themed seminars. These are scheduled for April 25th,
May 30th, and in October and December (dates tbc). Travel expenses will be
paid for speakers, though we cannot cover overnight accommodation or a fee.
We expect to secure a publisher for an edited collection of selected papers
from the series.
Travel bursaries for attendees: A limited number of small travel bursaries
will be available per event to help towards the cost of attending for those
not giving papers. Please contact the organisers at the email address below
if you are interested in this. We will require a 150 word statement
outlining your research interests and indicating how participation at the
event will enhance your research.
Professor Linda Ruth Williams ([log in to unmask]) & Peri Bradley
([log in to unmask])
School of Humanities, University of Southampton, UK
Thanks for your consideration,
Dan Varndell
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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.ScreenSite.org
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