CfP: Interdisciplinary Analyses of Medicalized Human Bodies and Parts

One-sex/two-sex/sex-spectrum, Anatomized or amputated parts, Contamination of and by bodily fluids, Plastic surgeries, Bionic integration, Human drug trials, In vitro embryology, Genetic engineering, Organ markets, Vaccinations...

These are models, circumstances, and concepts that describe and represent our understandings of human bodies, and indicate ways to change, repair, and improve human bodies: perhaps we are attempting to reach human corporeal perfection or immortality; perhaps we are trying to avoid extinction.

These modes, circumstances, and ideas are not just medical questions. They are also cultural questions, frequently examining and balancing the multifaceted beneficial advancements with highly problematic or even devastating repercussions. The medicalizing of human bodies and body parts exists in various discourses and media, and demands interdisciplinary analyses across time, space, media, and imagination. In a time when mere drops of exhaled breath threaten the lives of millions around the globe, this panel seeks to investigate medicalizing of human bodies and body parts in sciences and humanities, from historical medical theories and practices to contemporary science fiction human/alien hybrids.

Submit abstracts (max. 250 words) on the NeMLA conference website: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/19200

Abstract submissions accepted 15 June - 30 September 2021

Presiding Officer: Shawna Guenther

Contact Info: Shawna Guenther