body – Ƶ Thu, 10 Sep 2015 09:58:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 212073213 CFP: Bodies of Care: Somaesthetics of Vulnerability /cfp-bodies-of-care-somaesthetics-of-vulnerability/ Thu, 10 Sep 2015 09:58:31 +0000 http://british-aesthetics.org/?p=2081 Read More]]> 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.

]]> 2081 CFP: Bodies of Belief /cfp-bodies-of-belief/ Wed, 08 Jul 2015 19:12:05 +0000 http://british-aesthetics.org/?p=1889 Read More]]> Human bodies are shaped not only by their genetic endowment but also by the belief systems of the cultures in which they develop and function. Such belief systems vary from unarticulated background assumptions to ritualized practices and explicit doctrines or even to formulated laws enacted and enforced by social institutions. Likewise, belief’s somatic shaping ranges widely from the stylization of external appearance (including clothing and ornamentation) to the structuring of bodily actions and comportment (including essential practices like eating) and even to inner modes of affect (which are felt somatically). Beliefs become socially and politically effective through bodily practices especially when these are highly stylized in formal rituals. In this way traditions are congealed in habitual practices. The beliefs that the human soma embodies and expresses are not confined to established social norms; they also include items of faith and commitment that are individualistic, nonconformist, or even antagonistic to the cultural mainstream. More than a mere instrument of compliance or worship, the soma is also a site and weapon of protest.

The Journal of Somaesthetics invites submissions from any disciplinary perspective that address the relationship between the soma and belief.

Deadline: September 1, 2015

Papers should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words and prepared for blind review. Authors should submit a separate cover page including: author’s name, institutional affiliation, word count and contact information. All submissions should be sent to the Associate Editor, Russell Pryba at rpryba@gmail.com. Please put “Bodies of Belief” in the subject line. General inquires regarding this issue should be sent to the Guest Editor, Bryan Turner at bturner@gc.cuny.edu

Ƶ the Journal of Somaesthetics: The Journal of Somaesthetics is a peer-reviewed, online, academic research journal devoted to research that advances the interdisciplinary field of somaesthetics, understood as the critical study and meliorative cultivation of the experience and performance of the living body (or soma) as a site of sensory appreciation (aesthesis) and creative self-stylization. The journal therefore welcomes contributions exploring the field of somaesthetics through one -or more- of the many disciplines that already inform this field: philosophy, aesthetics, arts and design research, technology studies, somatic, health, and social sciences, history, physiology, psychology and pedagogy. For more information about the journal, see

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