This one-day, interdisciplinary conference aims to explore both the formation (construction) and transformation (deconstruction, reconstruction, reproduction) of human bodies as represented in a variety of discourses.

The body has historically been perceived as a site upon which the “truth” of one’s identity (race, sex, age) is inscribed. With this in mind, we are seeking proposals for 15-minute papers that interrogate the body’s apparent immutability and/or consider the (im)possibility of transcending the material body through transformation.

We strongly encourage proposals in a variety of disciplines, including literature, film, visual arts, history, sociology and new media.

Suggested areas for discussion are, but not limited to:

• Authenticity and Cultural Authority
• Masquerade, Passing and Disguise
• Bodily Mutations / Body Imaging
• Gendered and Raced Bodies
• Bodily Classifications
• Adolescent Bodies
  
• The Body-as-Text
• The Body in Religious Discourse
• National Bodies / Civic Bodies
• The Body in Historical Discourse
• Slave Bodies / The Body and Economics
• The Body in Visual Culture
• Virtual Bodies, Cyber Bodies, the Body and Technology
• Sexualities
• Bodies in Motion, Travelling Bodies and Tourism

The conference fee will be £15, including break-time refreshments and lunch.

Please send proposals of up to 300 words with institutional affiliation to the conference organises by the 25th of April 2005.