International Conference
Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilisation
Call For Papers
September 13th & 14th, 2012. University of Hull, UK.
This conference focuses on the social pathologies of contemporary civilisation, i.e. on the ways in which contemporary malaises, diseases, illnesses, anxieties and psycho-somatic syndromes are related to cultural pathologies of the social body, how disorders of the collective esprit de corps of contemporary society manifest at the level of individual bodies, and how the social body and bodies politic are related to the hegemony of reductive biomedical and individual-psychological perspectives. The central research hypothesis guiding the conference is that many contemporary problems of health and well-being are to be understood in the light of radical changes of social structures and institutions, extending to deep crises in our civilisation as a whole. A particular focus of the conference is the role of humanities and social sciences, particularly sociology, philosophy and anthropology, in helping to understand the connection between individual and collective experiences of social transformations and of health and well-being.
Now in its third year, the thematic scope of the conference offers an insightful approach to unfolding social, political and cultural processes across disciplinary boundaries, with a focus extending from the experience of the individual to a global scale. Following successful conferences at Aalborg (2010) and Cork (2011), this year the conference is hosted by the University of Hull.
We invite abstracts of not more than 300 words related to any of the above themes to be submitted not later than June 10th to the email address below. All abstracts will be subject to peer-review and should be sent to the conference organisers at socialpathologies@hull.ac.uk
Organizers: University of Hull Dept of Social Sciences, University of Aalborg, University College Cork.
Mark Carrigan 