CfP: Leprosy and the Leper Reconsidered
We are pleased to announce the call for papers for Leprosy and the Leper Reconsidered, which will take place at McGill University in Montréal, Canada. This is an interdisciplinary and trans-historical conference which seeks both to unite and to broaden the discourse on leprosy sufferers and leprosy. In this way, this conference aims to highlight and discuss the presence of leprosy not only across time, but also across physical borders and spaces. Indeed, this conference aims to erase such boundaries in order to foster a more encompassing discussion of such a global disease.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is a growing need to address leprosy within an interdisciplinary framework in order to expand our understanding of changing discourse, medical, social, and popular, surrounding the disease and the afflicted.
The conference will have plenary talks from Susan Burns (University of Chicago) and Luke Demaitre (University of Virginia). We invite proposals for papers of approximately 20 minutes or posters that engage with the themes of leprosy sufferers, leprosy, and perceptions of the disease from various disciplinary approaches, such as history, literature, art history, archaeology, anthropology, bioarchaeology, material culture, or others.
Possible topics may include, but are by no means limited to:
‣ Cultural responses to leprosy
‣ Changing perceptions of leprosy
‣ Religious understandings of leprosy
‣ Colonial and Post-Colonial approaches to theregulation of leprosy sufferers
‣ Leprosy in popular culture (e.g. books, film, etc.)
‣ Physicians’ responses to leprosy
‣ Missions and missionaries
‣ The lexicon of leprosy
‣ Material culture surrounding leprosy sufferers and medical responses to leprosy
Those wishing to participate should please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words, a brief bio and a one-page CV to leprosyandtheleper@gmail.com no later than 20 October 2017.
We ask that you indicate whether you would like to be considered as a speaker or to present a poster. Please attach your documents as either a Microsoft Word or PDF file and include your name and home institution on all files.
For further information please check our website: leprosyandtheleper.wordpress.com
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