The Body on Display, Renaissance to Enlightenment
Durham University (England), 6-7 July 2010
An interdisciplinary symposium for early career researchers, supported
by the Society for the Social History of Medicine and Durham University's Centre for Seventeenth-Century Studies
Keynote speaker: Dr. Peter Mitchell (Department of English, University
of Wales, Lampeter)
At once an organ system, disciplinary target, metaphor, creation of God,
cultural construction, 'self' and receptacle for the soul, it is not
surprising that the body has fallen under the attention of historians of
art, gender, thought, medicine, theatre and costume, and of literary
scholars, archaeologists and historical sociologists and philosophers.
This symposium will look at the human and human-like body on, and as,
display, between c.1400 and c.1800. We will explore the notion, and
reality, of the exposure of the inner and outer human form, and the
representational, visual and material cultures of the body. This was a
formative (and even transformative) period for the visual and
representational culture of human corporeality, witnessing the
watersheds of Renaissance and Enlightenment, challenges to long-held
understandings of the body and, allegedly, both the creation of the
modern 'self' and the eventual secularization of Western society.
Possible topics might include (but are not limited to):
-Dissection, the medical 'gaze' and medical illustration
-Corporeality and the flesh in the visual, written and performing arts
-The body in religious iconography, hagiography and religious
performance
-Gesture, kinesics and the expression of emotions
-Corporal punishment and bodily shaming
-Clothing, garments and cosmetics and their significance
Papers of 20 minutes are invited from postgraduates and postdoctoral
researchers working on any part of the period. Studies looking at
non-European countries are especially encouraged, as is flexibility in
approaching the body as a visual, performative, aesthetic and
representational entity. Please send abstracts (of no more than 300
words) to body.ondisplay@durham.ac.uk by 30 January 2010.
The symposium will be held immediately before the Society for the Social
History of Medicine's annual conference 2010 (also at Durham
University), to facilitate early career attendance at both events. It
will be accompanied by an exhibition of original materials to be held at
Palace Green Library, Durham University. Please see the website
www.bodyondisplay.org.uk or email body.ondisplay@durham.ac.uk for more
information.
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