London Conference in Critical Thought 2013
Royal Holloway, University of London
6-7 June 2013
CONCERNING BODIES
CONCERNING BODIES
Stream organisers: Angela Bartram, Mary O'Neill,
Becky McLaughlin & Eric Daffron
This stream has two points of focus: firstly, the representation, and ethical implications, of bodies (both human
and animal) in visual cultures and, secondly, the account of the body (and body parts) in Lacan and Foucault.
Papers are invited that address any of the concerns detailed under these two headings:
The Body and Ethics – Dead or Alive
The body is an important site for analysis of the physical and the social condition. Whether human or animal, the
body provides information and experience that communicates what it is to be alive – even in death. This has
made the body a source material to be analyzed, scrutinized, dissected, and surveyed in the pursuit of knowledge.
The human and animal body has historically been used in medical studies, art education, as a donor material, for
reference, and creative practice. The appropriateness of the use of bodies in medical enquiry has historically been
sanctioned because it has educational benefit. Could the same level of permission be applied to artistic enquiry?
What legislates the appropriate use of the dead body in anatomy and biomedical classes and procedures? What
informs the decision that the life room is a place for studies of the live human body only? What ethics govern
artistic studies of the socio-physical body in art education and creative practice? We seek papers that discuss the
role of critical theory in our understanding of the use of the body in visual culture both historical and
contemporary, including, but not limited to:
• somataphobia
• scopophilia
• scopophobia
• dissection
• necrophobia
• taxidermy
Please send abstracts for 20-minute papers to londoncriticalconference@gmail.com with either ‘Body
and Ethics submission’ or ‘Body Parts and Partial Bodies submission’ in the subject line.
