Bodies of Care: Somaesthetics of Vulnerability

The Center for Body, Mind, and Culture invites proposals for papers to be presented at a two-day conference, January 28–29, 2016, at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton.

Bodies are obviously the targets of one’s daily care in terms of personal hygiene, grooming, exercise, and proper nourishment. They are also objects of care in the sense of worry or concern, since we all suffer illness and death through our bodies. However, the sentient, purposive, active body or soma is also a subjectivity that examines and cares for the body as object, whether it be one’s own body or the bodies of others who one wants to help or comfort. We all need such curative help or comfort at some point in our lives; and some people devote their professional and personal lives to giving such care. Bodies need and give care in many ways and for many reasons: to overcome illness and disability, to address and alleviate dependence, to learn new skills and remedy bad habits, to inspire greater confidence for personal flourishing and greater social betterment. This conference will examine the wide range of somatic conditions that require care and the variety of somatic methods of providing such care, while exploring how these conditions and methods are represented in cultural theory, health and wellness studies, literature, and the arts.

Selected papers may be developed for publication in The Journal of Somaesthetics (http://somaesthetics.wordpress.com/) or in an edited book based on the conference papers.

Abstracts of 250 words, and a current CV, should be sent electronically as attachments, no later than October 15, 2015, 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 mid-November, 2015.