Cine

Articles of CALIGARI
CFP: Sensualising Deformity: Communication and Construction of Monstrous Embodiment
2011-09-08 09:09:08 Katharina Rein

Eine Tagung in Edinborough widmet sich monströsenKörpern Deadline für Abstracts: 31. Januar 2012 Sensualising Deformity: Communication and Construction of Monstrous Embodiment The University of Edinburgh June 15-16, 2012 Confirmed Plenary Speakers: Prof.Jeffrey Jerome Cohen George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA Dr. Peter Hutchings Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK “Although he was already repellent enough, there arose from thefungous skin-growth with which he was almost covered a very sickening stench which was hard to tolerate… with the use of the [daily] bath the unpleasant odour… ceased to be noticeable” - Sir FrederickTreves The prominent surgeon Frederic Treves’s description of Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, exposes a body which is simultaneously an assault on the senses and one which has traditionally beendesensualised. Deformity is sanitised and fitted into a structure of normality. The academy tends to obscure the complexity of the sensuous/sensual/sensed body of the deformed subject, and of the questions,anxieties, and denials which surround deformity when it is located within a continuum of sense. From freak exhibitions and fairs, medical examinations and discoveries to various portrayals in arts andliterature, images of deformity (or monstrosity, used separately or interchangeably depending on context) have captivated us for centuries. The result is a significant body of critical and artisticworks where these bodies are dissected, politicized, exhibited, objectified or even beatified. Nonetheless, there remains a gap, an unexplored, unspoken or neglected aspect of this complex field ofstudy which needs further consideration. This two-day interdisciplinary conference aims to bring the senses and the sensuous back to the monstrous or deformed body from the early modern period through...