In recent years, diverse fields related to literature and science studies, such as the medical humanities, critical neurodiversity studies, and the study of the haptic, have been re-evaluating the human body, its histories, and the impact of those histories today. At the same time, fields such as feminist theory, critical race theory, trans studies, and disability studies have deployed embodied perspectives to re-evaluate how we understand history and historical narratives.

This one-day symposium invites abstracts for twenty-minute papers on these alternate histories of the body, broadly construed, from scholars working in literary studies and adjacent fields such as the medical humanities, history, and philosophy. We welcome proposed contributions that explore forms and formats beyond the conventional conference paper and that incorporate elements of creative practice, autoethnography, and embodied meaning-making.

The symposium is open to all. We particularly invite contributions from postgraduate and early-career researchers, independent scholars, and practice-led researchers and creators.