The Anatomy of Political Bodies
17-18 April 2015, University of Warsaw
The research group “Rex nunquam moritur: Comparative Approaches to Political Theologies from the Middle Ages to the Present” is pleased to announce a call for papers for the international two-day conference on The Anatomy of Political Bodies which will be held at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw, on 17–18 April 2015.
The objective of the conference is to examine political bodies past and present as a cultural phenomenon. What mechanisms lead to their emergence, their consolidation and, finally, their crises and decay? How have similar power mechanisms been adapted in different sociocultural, geographical and chronological contexts? By posing these questions we intend to explore how the various understandings and practices of legitimisation, authority and power have become intertwined with anatomical metaphors. Analyses of cultural artefacts as mediators between the theory and the practice of exercising power is also within the scope of our interest.
We address this invitation to early career researchers (PhD students and recent PhD holders) from diverse fields within the humanities, social and political sciences.
Prospective contributors may wish to examine (but are not limited to) the following issues:
- The representations, justifications and pragmatics of exercising power;
- The role of technology, media and science in discourses of power;
- Community- and identity-building as a function of the body politic;
- Liturgical rites, salvation promises and sacred fetishes of power;
- The implications, transformations and limits of political bodies;
- Secular and ecclesiastical political bodies;
- Secularization of political bodies and contemporary political theologies.
The language of the conference is English. Prospective speakers are encouraged to submit abstracts of approximately 300 words, along with their short academic bio and contact details, to rexnunquammoritur@gmail.com no later than 25 January 2015. Authors whose papers are accepted will be asked to provide an extended abstract (ca. 1000 words) by 1 March 2015; a booklet containing all the abstracts will be made available online one month prior to the conference. Bursaries covering accommodation costs in Warsaw during the period of the conference will be provided.
Abstracts due: 25 January 2015
For any questions, please visit the project website.
