CfP: Rethinking the Sexed Body, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), 16-17 October

CALL FOR PAPERS - RETHINKING THE SEXED BODY

Faculty of Philosophy. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Madrid, Spain. 16–17 October 2024

Conference organisers: Emma Ingala, Gavin Rae, Sara Fontanelli

Contemporary philosophical debates on the sexed body are often marked by an underlying dichotomy or conflict between nature, biology, and matter on the one hand, and culture, language, discourses and symbolic regimes, epistemological frames and norms, sociocultural practices and conventions, and power relations, on the other. A number of thinkers insist, however, that this binary opposition is impoverishing and/or fundamentally mistaken, and seek to rethink the sexed body as a complex, plural, and plastic reality constituted and sustained by a manifold of processes, agents, dimensions, and differential relations that cannot be separated into water-tight compartments. The purpose of this international conference is to bring into dialogue different perspectives on the sexed body that can contribute to this nuanced understanding, shed light on the multidimensionality of sexuality, and enrich the discussions on the nature, materiality, experience, and practices of sexed bodies. We invite papers that deal with the complexity of the sexed body from approaches such as those of (but not limited to) feminist and gender theories, philosophy of biology, new materialisms, critical theory, poststructuralism, phenomenology, philosophy of birth, feminist metaphysics, or decolonial and postcolonial theories.

Those interested in presenting a paper should send a 400-word abstract—outlining the general topic of the paper, the specific problem to be addressed, summary of the debates surrounding that issue, and argument to be developed—suitable for 20 minutes presentation time, and a short (300 word) biography that includes name and institutional affiliation, to sexedbody@ucm.es by the 28th June 2024. The language of the conference is English and attendance will be free. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide financial aid. Additional information can be found at the conference website: https://eventos.ucm.es/go/rethinkingthesexedbody

The conference is hosted by the Department of Logic and Theoretical Philosophy, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), and forms part of the activities for the following research projects: (1) “The Crossroads of the Sexed Body: Cultural Matter and Material Cultures of Sexuality,” (PR27/21-020; 2022–2024), financed by the Government of the Region of Madrid, as part of the multi-year agreement with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid: V PRICIT Regional Plan for Scientific Investigation and Technological Innovation; and (2) “The Politics of Reason” (PID2020–117386GA–I00; 2021–2025), financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain.