Body Imaging and the Body Imaginary: An Interdisciplinary Psychoanalytic Conference

To take place at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia on April 3-4, 2015

Contemporary representations of the human body proliferate at an ever-increasing rate through the medium of new technologies (medical and other scientifically-oriented imaging technology, ‘new media’, contemporary art, etc.). This conference interrogates the bidirectional movement between subjective images of the body and contemporary technological possibilities of representation. We invite proposals from across the humanities and health sciences, from both academic and clinical perspectives, that explore the ways in which perceptions, identities, and knowledges and the process of body imaging broadly conceived influence each other. In what ways is the body being imaged? When can parts of the body come to represent the whole? What does it mean to see or to image pathology (vs the healthy body)? How do we define a healthy body image and an image of a healthy body? How do particular images of the body foster relationships (not always positive) between science and literature, doctor and patient, or art and technology? Specifically, how do these questions arise in psychoanalytic contexts and what can psychoanalysis bring to these conversations?

Please send abstracts not exceeding 250 words to imagingthebodyconf [at] gmail [dot] com no later than November 16, 2014.

While the organizers envision a broadly psychoanalytic orientation for the event (either theoretical or clinical), we welcome proposals for papers and panels in any discipline on themes including but not limited to the following:

Social Media

Film

Visual arts

Representations of Gender and Sexuality

Race

Music, dance, and theater

Gaming

Literature

Medical Imaging

Disability

Stages of life: Childhood,Puberty/Adolescence, Aging, Pregnancy

Surgery/Transplants

Assault

Eating Disorders

Body modification