Cut`n Paste the Body Body and Gender in Times of Their

Cut`n Paste the Body Body and Gender in Times of Their

Cut’n Paste the Body
Body and Gender in Times of Their
Technological Reproducibility
International, interdisciplinary conference at Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich, Germany, 24./25. October 2014, affiliated to the research project “The optimized Gender?” funded by
the German Research Association (DFG)
Organization: Steffen Loick Molina, Anna-Katharina Meßmer, Paula-Irene
Villa, Julia Wustmann
Call for papers
In western modernity body and gender, in particular the gendered body,
were long regarded as naturally given and as universal facts, independent
from human praxis and culture. But is this still the case today? At least
three dynamics give rise to doubts: First, multiple scientific perspectives
in natural, cultural and social sciences have shown that nature and culture
cannot be separated easily, but are rather co-constitutive. Second, political and (sub-)cultural as well as social and economic articulations constantly challenge binary differentiations and in doing so, shift the allegedly
clear boundary between nature and culture. Finally, we are increasingly
surrounded by offers and demands to overcome the body-as-fate. This
applies for cosmetic surgery just as much as for anti-aging, enhancement
and further forms of body-modification, which operate in service of social
inclusion and acknowledgement – as well as in service of joyful selfempowerment and politically motivated subversion. In short, one might
say: Only those, who actively manipulate their own body in search for the
optimum, qualify for economic, social, political and cultural participation.
But we might also say: Those who modulate and redesign their body fulfill
the modern promise of autonomy and personal responsibility most consistently. The interdisciplinary conference addresses this ambivalence.
Contributions may include (but are not limited to) the following thematic,
theoretical or methodological aspects:
•
How is somatic subjectivation accomplished within the field of tension
between nature and culture? The so set polarity between naturalness
and artificiality – furthermore between the suggested authenticity and
‘fakeness’ – is to be scrutinized from different disciplines. What is entailed in the interrelation between the subjective experience of one’s
own body and the objectifying gaze and alteration of bodies, e.g. when
optimized by new technologies and practices?
•
‘Bodies’ as objects of manipulation/modification have become increasingly present in public space, whether in TV-formats, news reports,
numerous websites or advertisement for respective medical practices.
Many kinds of questions result from this: What body images and feasibilities are performed in media and in which modalities are they represented? In what way are they gendered and racialized or connected
to further dimensions of social structure? Which rhetoric concerning
bodies and their potential reproducibility can be reconstructed on the
basis of media? How is this (new?) medial visibility of body images and
their respective negotiations to be assessed in historical context and
what consequences arise for the future?
•
Cosmetic surgery has been established as a relevant (and in terms of
medical tourism also transnational) market which grows rapidly. What
micro- and macro-economic dynamics are related to this? How do local
and global (body-) norms intertwine? Are (new) interrelations between
economic rationalities and ethic norms observable?
•
Finally, questions about the change of organizations, professions and
disciplines within the wider medical context arise: How is the organization of health care systems affected by the shift towards a serviceoriented medicine? What role does the popularization of financing
models play in such dynamics? How are balances of power/forces within medicine affected? How is the own professional field of work understood and justified by practitioners? How are the diverse technological
and practice-related developments interpreted and negotiated in different arenas (developers, users etc.)?
Experts from all disciplines, i.e. the whole spectrum of natural sciences,
the humanities and social sciences as well as medicine, are invited to
submit contributions and/or attend the conference. Confirmed keynote
speakers are:
Sander L. Gilman (Emory University, New York)
Silke Schicktanz (Georg-August University, Göttingen)
Nikki Sullivan (Macquarie University, Sydney)
Please submit an abstract with a maximum of 2,500 characters
(space incl.) in English or German by 15th April 2014 to: cutnpaste@soziologie.uni-muenchen.de In order to ensure the interdisciplinary scope of the conference, the abstracts should address the following dimensions: methodological-methodical design, theoretical-disciplinary
frame, core question/thesis in preferably cross-disciplinary formulation.
For further questions regarding the conference please contact the conference organizers at cutnpaste@soziologie.uni-muenchen.de. For news
about the project please refer to: http://www.gender.soziologie.unimuenchen.de à Forschung.