The Eighth International Symposium of CORPUS International Group for the Cultural Studies will be organised in Taipei with Academia Sinica and Taipei National University of the Arts on May 24th-26th 2013. Its theme will be “Bodily Cultivation and Cultural Learning.” Almost all cultures recognize as a means of achieving religious or spiritual goals, cultivating moral and emotional virtue, or transforming ideas into bodily practices. Some of the most common examples include fasting, meditation, vegetarianism, and qigong or taichi. Rather than focus on these obvious examples, conference attendees will examine culturally driven bodily practices such as proper ways to walk, sit, and gesture—all of which are often endowed with rich cultural meaning, information about cultural learning, and knowledge about the cultivation of values and merit. Bodily cultivation can also be analyzed as a channel for learning, manifesting, developing, or shaping cultural concepts and ideals. Participants will work on defining bodily cultivation in a broader sense, one that encompasses exercise, nurturance, and physical training as special modes of concept construction. Rather than focus on mind-body dualism/interaction, we will direct our attention to ways that bodily cultivation has been used to internalize cultural ideas, morality, and knowledge. Panels will also discuss various characteristics such as intentional design versus unintentional programming, professional versus amateur training, spiritual versus secular orientation, and mundane versus hedonistic/ascetic features.

Attendees are encouraged to propose or submit papers on these panel topics:

Daoist body concept and religious cultivation

Body techniques and skills: expert or novice

Craftsmanship

The athletic body

Everyday forms of discipline

Practice, process and metaphor

Memory and body

Civilization process

Proposals for English-language panels and presentations tied to these themes are welcomed. Proposals must include an abstract (400 words) and a current CV. The deadline for receiving proposals at corpustaiwan@gmail.com is December 15, 2012. All proposals will be evaluated by an international committee. There is no registration fee. Participants are solely responsible for all transportation, visa arrangements, travel insurance costs, and accommodations.