cfp.english.upenn.edu

Body and Technology: Instruments of Somaesthetics

The Center for Body, Mind, and Culture invites proposals for papers to be presented at a 3-day conference, January 24-26, 2013, at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton.

The human body is our basic instrument for life, the basis for the creation and use of all our other tools or technologies. As the body has shaped technology, so technology is increasingly reshaping the body: not only by reshaping our bodily habits through which we experience and act in the world but also through the incorporation of prosthetic devices and drug enhancements. Regarding the body as a sensitive sentient soma, rather than as a merely material machine, this conference rethinks the relationship between body and technology, focusing on such topics as human-computer interaction, robotics, medical and fitness technologies, technology and the environment, and technologies of the arts. We welcome papers from the perspectives of both the sciences and the humanities.

Abstracts of 250 words, and a current CV, should be sent electronically as attachments, no later than October 1, 2012, to Richard Shusterman at bodymindculture@fau.edu
Please direct conference inquiries to the same address. Further information about the conference will be made available at http://www.fau.edu/bodymindculture, where you can also consult the programs of our prior international conferences. Prospective speakers will be notified by November 8, 2012.