CALL FOR PAPERS
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40th Annual Meeting of the International Merleau-Ponty Circle October 1-3, 2015 Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, Massachusetts
THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BODY:
THINKING MERLEAU-PONTY IN AND OUT OF TIME
The present era is animated by unique political and technological landscapes that affect the ways we experience and think about our own bodies and the bodies of others. The focus of this interdisciplinary conference is to investigate the varied ways that Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological philosophy speaks and does not speak to our twenty-first century bodies and the ethical, social, scientific, artistic, and existential challenges that situate and enliven them. Interrogating this theme thus leads us to consider the ways that Merleau-Ponty’s thought is ahead of its time, tied to its time, and beyond time and context. More important, these questions ask us to explore the intimacy between our own bodies and the body of our time—that fully material zeitgeist that is our present, yet also holds our past and future, our regrets and possibilities. This three-day congress will include presentations from approximately twenty-five scholars working in a variety of disciplines, an art exhibition on the conference theme, opening and closing receptions with musical performances, and myriad opportunities to engage in conversations about Merleau-Ponty’s place at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
The keynote speakers for the conference are Etienne Bimbenet (Université Jean Moulin – Lyon III) and Sean Kelly (Harvard University), and plenary session speakers include Susan Broadhurst (Brunel University), Stefan Kristensen (University of Geneva), Leonard Lawlor (Penn State University), and George Yancy (Duquesne University).
For a detailed description of the conference theme and events, submission guidelines, and travel information, please see the conference website: : wpi.edu/+mpcircle
Call for Papers and Call for Art: http://www.wpi.edu/academics/hua/news/callforpapers.html
PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE: June 1, 2015
ART SUBMISSION DEADLINE: August 1, 2015
For questions and further information, please contact the conference director, Jennifer McWeeny at jmcweeny@wpi.edu.