cfp.english.upenn.edu

(Image)ining The Female Body
University of Surrey
October 29, 2010

(Image)ining the Female Body will explore the various ways the female body is represented and manipulated in the contexts of art, activism, and academia. Presenters working in (though not excluded to) the fields of literature, creative writing, psychology, philosophy, politics, art history and feminist studies are invited to present a twenty minute paper dealing with the challenges which arise in depicting the female body, and the ways in which the limitations imposed by the body are dealt with in order to create and reaffirm the female subject. At a time when it is widely argued that the work of the feminist movement is complete, the glaring realisation that the female body is still used as worldwide currency proves this claim to be false. We are still faced with the problems of bodily representation which are enhanced by the fact that the pornography industry manages to turn profit in a recession, bodily enhancements and augmentations are still rampant, and the question of who actually “owns” the female body is still eminently relevant. This one-day conference aims to consider the ways in which the female body has been appropriated by patriarchal culture to reinforce its own very existence, and the measures which are being taken in order to restore the image of the female body to its rightful owner.

Suggestions for topics include, but are not limited to:

• Gender Performativity
• Racial Representations of the Body
• Bodily Interpretations in Contemporary Performance
• Hysteria: The Hysterical Woman and Bodily Repercussions
• “Bodies” of Art: Constructions of the Body in Visual Art
• Political Representations
• Queering the Body
•Creative Works of Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry which are Primarily Concerned with Writing the Female Body

An Abstract of no more than 300 words along with a brief mini-biography is due to Amanda Finelli no later than Friday June 25, 2010. Early submissions are encouraged and should be emailed to a.finelli@surrey.ac.uk. Any queries should also be sent to a.finelli@surrey.ac.uk.